Tameside General Hospital

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• Overview
• Kindness, compassion and dignity
• Treating people as individuals
• Independence, choice and control
• Responding to people’s immediate needs
• Workforce wellbeing and enablement

Our rating of caring stayed the same. We rated caring as good.

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Staff treated children and young people with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, took account of their individual needs and choices, and helped them understand their conditions. Staff were responsive and provided emotional support to children and young people, families and carers. The service had systems in place to support staff with their wellbeing, safe working and emotional support.

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

Parents and young people who used the service told us staff treated them well and with kindness. They told us staff were friendly and caring and gave us positive feedback about ways in which staff showed them respect and ensured that their dignity was maintained. They told us staff were respectful and maintained their privacy when providing care and treatment.

The staff we spoke with were caring and compassionate. They told us they cared for children and families and respected their privacy and dignity. They told us people’s needs and preferences were assessed upon admission and they always respected people’s wishes. We observed children and families being looked after in a caring and compassionate manner.

Service partners told us they had a good relationship with staff and leaders, who demonstrated a commitment to treating people who used the service and colleagues with kindness, dignity, and respect. Partners told us the children and young people’s services had effective processes in place to protect people’s privacy and dignity.

We saw staff were discreet and responsive when caring for children and young people. Staff took time to interact with people and those close to them in a respectful and considerate way. We saw people were treated with dignity, compassion and empathy. We observed staff speaking with people discreetly to maintain confidentiality. Privacy curtains were available and we saw these used to protect people’s privacy and dignity.

Parents and young people spoke positively about their care and how involved they were with planning their care and how information was shared with them so they could be fully informed on what would happen to them. They told us staff treated them as individuals and took their needs and preferences into account when providing care and treatment. They told us staff respected their cultural needs.

We observed staff talking with parents, children and young people explaining their treatment and giving information about the next steps. We saw staff were respectful and supportive when they spoke with people.

Staff told us people's needs and preferences were assessed on admission and they discussed and took into account their needs and preferences. Staff were able to give examples of how they respected the wishes of and provided care and treatment for people. They were able to describe how they would make reasonable adjustments for people with a learning disability and people with autism.

Care records showed people's personal, cultural and social needs were understood and met. Most staff had completed autism awareness training and equality, diversity and human rights training as part of their mandatory training.

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Staff told us they made sure people who used the service and those close to them understood their care and treatment. Staff supported people to make informed decisions about their care and treatment. They told us they listened to people and promoted independence as much as possible.

Parents and young people told us they were kept informed about their treatment and staff were clear at explaining their treatment to them in a way they could understand.

Parents were encouraged to stay with their child on the neonatal unit and children’s unit. The service had facilities for overnight accommodation for parents and families if needed. The services had flexible visiting hours to enable parents and families to spend time with children and young people. There were suitable facilities and arrangements for bottle feeding and breastfeeding.

Staff gave people who used the service and those close to them help, emotional support and advice when they needed it. They understood the emotional and social impact that a person’s care, treatment or condition had on their wellbeing and on those close to them.

We observed staff providing reassurance to people and supporting them whilst providing care and treatment. We saw staff carried out regular monitoring and observations and attended to people promptly when called.

Parents and some young people told us they were supported with their emotional needs. They told us staff were calm and reassuring and answered any questions they had about their care and treatment.

Most staff told us they received good support from their line managers: their workload was manageable and they had regular breaks during their shift. Managers told us they routinely engaged with staff and supported them with training and development opportunities to develop a positive team culture.

Staff could access employee support programmes for organisational development, counselling, health and wellbeing. The service had initiatives to support staff workloads, including flexible shift adjustments and allocation of staff duties to balance workload.

Staff regularly participated in supervision and debriefs to support their emotional well-being. A number of professional nursing advocates were in place to provide support and advice for staff. Staff spoke positively about the wider support they received from the trust including access to occupational health, well-being and human resources support.

The trust’s health and wellbeing strategy and action plan 2024-25 outlined the key objectives for staff well-being and enablement. Staff health and wellbeing was reviewed at routine divisional and trust-level workforce committee meetings.