Good Hope 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 they and 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.

This is not the first assessment for this service but is the first time the service has been rated. This key question has been rated good. This meant people were supported and treated with dignity and respect; and involved as partners in their care. Staff listened to, understood and responded to the needs of people and acted to minimise distress. Staff wellbeing was well promoted to enable them to always deliver person-centred care.

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.

Staff treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect.

Staff were kind and compassionate with patients and those who were supporting them, such as friends and relatives. Patients were specifically positive about the way staff within mammography treated them. People were treated with dignity and their privacy was protected. Staff were careful when moving people to ensure they were covered by clothing or blankets to maintain their dignity.

Staff checked with people if they were in pain or any discomfort during the procedure. They minimised this as much as possible by making patients comfortable and keeping the procedure as short as technically able to do.

People felt staff listened to them and communicated with them appropriately, in a way they could understand. Patient’s we spoke with told us they were aware of why they were undergoing an investigation and what the investigation entailed.

Staff ensured the confidentiality of the patient was maintained at all times during their time in the department. When checking patient details prior to their investigation, staff kept their voices as low as possible to prevent anyone overhearing. Most areas did not provide results immediately to the patient so there was no possibility of other patients overhearing this information. The exception to this was within mammography but all results were discussed with patients in private spaces.

Staff treated people as individuals and made sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences. They took account of people’s culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics.

People’s individual needs and preferences were understood, and these were reflected in their care, treatment and support. Staff ensured details of any required adjustments during patients’ appointments was recorded during the booking process. Staff told us there were flags within the electronic systems used which also identified when patients required adjustments to be made.

People were treated as individuals to meet their needs and preferences. Staff were kind to people who had, for example, a cognitive impairment and not able to fully understand what was happening. Staff made sure that where it was safe, someone the patient trusted or knew was able to remain with them for their procedure.

Staff listened to family members if a patient could not speak for themselves or needed extra support. The parents of a young child with autism were able to both be with the child, when usually the process would allow just one parent in the scanning room. The staff made sure it was safe and then enabled both the parents to be with the child.

The service promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing.

People were supported to have choice and control over their own care to make decisions. Staff told us when booking patients for their investigations, they gave patients the choice of location and time where possible or they supported patients to receive the first available appointment which may be at a different location.

Staff made sure patients and those close to them understood their care and treatment. Patients we spoke with during our inspection told us they were aware of why they required an imaging procedure and were aware of next steps after their appointment. We observed staff inform patients undergoing a DEXA scan advising patients about the expectations of future scans to enable comprehensive monitoring of any bone density concerns.

The service had a range of equipment to help people to be treated safely. Patients who had limited mobility were helped by as many staff as needed to move them safely. This was done sometimes with the use of a board to safely slide the patient from one bed to another, or a mechanical hoist. A patient who was sedated and on a ventilator was moved by 8 members of staff including doctors from the intensive care team to make sure they were safely positioned for their scan and all equipment was still safely functioning.

Staff 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.

People’s needs, views, and their comfort were considered as much as possible within safety parameters. Staff were experienced and trained to recognise when people might feel discomfort or pain, concern or distress. They did their best to minimise this for patients and any family members or carers who had concerns.

Staff were alert to people’s needs and took time to observe, communicate and engage people in discussions. They also talked about the person’s life outside of the hospital to provide a distraction from the process if people were worried. A patient waiting for an MRI scan told us: “They [the MRI staff] have been good to me. We’ve talked about all sorts of things and I’m far less worried than I was when I got here.”

Staff took time to communicate well with people and responded in the most appropriate way to people’s immediate and individual needs. They had the skills and experience to act if people needed urgent help or an emergency developed.

Patients and their families could give feedback on the service and their treatment, and staff supported them to do this. Staff provided information about the NHS Friends and Family Test to patients to encourage them to provide their feedback. However, information showed the diagnostic imaging service at this location had a low response rate with only 9 responses between 26 October 2025 and 27 April 2026 with of 66.7% of patients identifying they would recommend the service to their friends and family. There was a mix of positive and negative responses from those who responded. Positive feedback included how staff were “kind, friendly, caring and professional” with some patients believing the service was efficient with smooth processes. However, negative feedback from other patients identified long waits for an appointment and delays in results being a concern.

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

People’s experience of the service was driven by a culture that normalised good wellbeing, inclusivity, active listening and open conversations. There was a good culture among the staff we met, who supported one another and genuinely cared about their patients. Staff said they felt well supported by their leaders and several staff said they could speak to their line manager about anything. Those we met said they had no concerns about speaking up if they were worried or felt they needed more support. Those we asked said their managers had listened and one said, “They did their best and went above and beyond really, even though it’s really busy and not easy to support extra training at the moment.”

People were supported by staff who said they felt valued by their leaders and colleagues. Staff said they had a sense of belonging and were asked for their views and able to contribute to changes. Staff told us they had no concerns about approaching their managers for support or to raise concerns. Staff within the mammography department were specifically positive about their immediate manager who would often work alongside them in times of reduced staffing or during weekends. Where difficult cases were experienced, their manager was always around to provide support to staff and hold debrief sessions. The results from the NHS staff survey 2025 indicated leaders supported them to ensure they had a positive work life balance and where required, would be supported to work flexibly within the department.

Staff were inclusive with one another and the culture was strong. There was a diverse range of staff from different backgrounds and ethnicities. Staff we asked said they felt the culture was inclusive and they had been accepted and welcomed to the team. The hospital had supported them to feel safe and welcomed. The results from the NHS staff survey from 2025 showed there had been an improvement in diversity and equality section within the imaging service. The current result showed 36.9% of staff believed this had improved within the department which was an improvement of 8.1% from the previous year.