Great Western Hospital

On this page

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

We looked for evidence that people were always treated with kindness, empathy and compassion. We checked that people’s privacy and dignity was respected, that they understood that their experience of how they were treated and supported mattered. We also looked for evidence that every effort was made to take people’s wishes into account and respect their choices, to achieve the best possible outcomes for them.

At our last assessment we rated this key question as good. At this assessment, we rated this key question as good. This meant people felt well-supported, cared for, and treated with dignity and respect.

We have not awarded this service a score for Caring.

Find out about when we will not publish a key question score and what we look at when we assess Caring.

The service listened to and understood people’s needs, views and wishes. Staff responded to people’s needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress.

Feedback from patients said they were listened to and spoken with in ways they could understand. Staff took time to talk with them and address any needs promptly. Patients commented their pain was well controlled and staff provided pain relief in a timely way when requested.

Staff made sure patients living with mental health problems, learning disabilities and dementia, received the necessary care to meet all their needs. Staff could access support and guidance from specialist nursing teams, such as learning disability nurses and dementia nurses.

Staff told us they always tried to address complaints or concerns as soon as possible. Ward managers and staff described how they attempted to resolve any issues before concerns escalated to become formal complaints. We saw posters up in different areas of the department explaining what to do if a patient wanted to complain.

The service cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care.

Staff told us the leaders had created a culture where concerns could be raised freely, were taken seriously and responded to. They were fully involved in ways to improve the service or staff experiences.

All staff spoke positively about how their line managers supported their wellbeing at work. The service and wider hospital offered well-being resources to the team, and these were advertised on the well-being notice board and via trustwide staff emails. These included employee assistance programmes, workplace coaching, counselling services, and other resources that could help staff cope with stress, financial and emotional challenges.

The service actively recognised and showed appreciation for staff efforts. Staff were encouraged to give positive affirmations to colleagues. There were programmes that recognised and rewarded outstanding performance and going above and beyond.

Staff were noticeably busy and worked under pressure however there was good support and mutual respect among staff working in the service. When asked about the mutual support available within the hospital the staff stated that “every patient is our patient”.