Good Hope 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

We rated caring as good.

Most women were treated with kindness, empathy, and compassion. Their privacy and dignity were respected, and they were made to feel their experiences and perspectives mattered. Staff took care to consider each woman's wishes and to respect their choices, aiming to achieve the best possible outcomes.

In our previous assessment, this key question was not rated. In the current assessment, it received a rating of Good, indicating 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 treated people with kindness, empathy, and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. People told us staff treated them well and with kindness. One woman told us, "I am very happy with all my care and the staff are brilliant." Another said, "All the staff are always smiling and always let me know their name before doing anything. They are all so helpful." A third woman said, "I feel lucky to have delivered my baby in this hospital."

However, feedback gathered by the Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership (MNVP) highlighted concerns from some women who felt they were not listened to, and their intuition was dismissed.

The MNVP completed a thematic review of the previous 15 months feedback from service users. The top themes included poor communication, lack of infant feeding and support, lack of compassion, lack of informed choice and language used by staff.

In response, the service reported progress on 2 improvement workstreams, an engagement and communication workstream which was 46% completed and a culture, leadership, and communication workstream which was 26% completed.

Staff were observed to be responsive and considerate in their interactions with women and their babies. Families consistently reported satisfaction with the care received, describing staff as kind, compassionate, and respectful.

We did not look at Treating people as individuals during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Caring.

We did not look at Independence, choice and control during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Caring.

The service listened to and understood people's needs, views, and wishes. Women were treated with dignity and respect. Women felt staff were attentive to their needs.

Women told us staff had responded to their needs quickly and efficiently, especially when they had been in pain and discomfort.

People's needs, views, and wishes were listened to and understood. Feedback was actively sought through digital platforms and was used constructively. Positive comments were shared with individual staff members, while areas requiring improvement were addressed through action plans.

The trust provided professional interpreting services to support communication between women, carers, and clinicians when language barriers existed. While trained interpreters were available, translation services remained an area of risk. The service was working to raise staff awareness and improve access to interpreting services, including clearer signage, as highlighted by the MNVP in June 2024.

Consent and birth choices had been identified as a key priority under the patient safety incident response framework, with a dedicated workstream to drive improvements.

In January 2025, the department received 115 responses to the NHS Friends and Family Test (FFT), a decrease of 43 from the previous month. Of these, 85% of respondents recommended the service. Postnatal areas received 96% positive feedback, while labour and birth received 74%, antenatal services 60%, and community postnatal care 83%. The antenatal clinic saw an increase in negative feedback, prompting the matron and clinic manager to develop an action plan.

We reviewed the FFT feedback from January 2025 which included comments such as, "My labour was extremely traumatic however I just wanted to express how wonderful your staff team is. The midwife we had alongside us was fantastic. She listened to me guided me through the pain and encouraged me to keep going," and "Very kind and understanding with lovely mannerisms and ethics. Overall, very happy with the service provided."

Women could leave feedback for staff on their `staff shoutout' board. One comment said, "just wanted to thank you all for your hard work and care on our unexpected second visit. Whilst you are all amazing, we wanted to say a special thank you to [staff names] to name just a few. Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Women who gave birth in theatre were given a paper survey to complete. The results were displayed in the theatre reception. Comments included, "all theatre staff have been incredible. I was very anxious about the birth, but I have felt so content and comfortable" and "all theatre staff were professional, reassuring and attentive."

Staff were alert to women's needs and took time to observe, communicate, and engage them about their immediate needs. Midwives took time to discuss birth preferences with women. One woman told us, "Staff have always read my birth plan" and "Staff have always taken time to explain everything throughout and I have been given choices, and I have felt relaxed to ask questions."

The women felt the service was responsive to their needs. For example, 3 women told us the 3-day parking pass they were given was helpful for the car parking at the hospital and made a difference to their stay.

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

Managers ensured staff wellbeing was important within their culture. Staff had regular breaks and there were appropriate rest areas.

The senior managers did regular walkarounds of all the areas. Staff told us they were visible and approachable. It was clear there was good team working throughout the areas we visited of the maternity department. For example, the theatre team leader attended the morning huddle. They felt part of the team and ensured they were fully informed ahead of their day.

There were several midwives who rotated around the different areas in the maternity department, and they told us the teams all worked well together. Staff were often moved to different departments due to staffing shortages and most staff were supported when they were moved. Although a couple of staff told us being moved caused them stress.

The delivery suite had been without a matron or manager for 6 months and had been supported by another matron. We were told this support was invaluable and consistent. All midwives on delivery suite praised the support of the matron and said it ensured the Band 7s could run the unit successfully.

Team meetings mostly did not happen due to staffing issues, but information was communicated to staff regularly in team huddles, emails, newsletters and a private social media group.

Staff mostly felt they could provide feedback or raise concerns easily. One midwife received a letter thanking them for their work following excellent feedback. Staff felt they could have open conversations with their managers, and they would be listened to. However, a few members of staff did not feel listened to or supported, and this impacted on their happiness at work which had resulted in staff departures.

Managers had recognised the need for cultural humility training within the maternity department. This was to ensure staff respected each other culturally and understood diverse perspectives. One member of staff who had protected characteristics felt this had had a positive impact on how they were treated and felt the service was actively working to improve equality and diversity in the workplace.

Among staff, there was a general culture of professionalism and mutual support. Most staff described their colleagues as respectful and collaborative. Additionally, ‘staff shoutout’ boards were present in each maternity area, promoting recognition and appreciation among teams.