- NHS hospital
Cheltenham General Hospital
Report from 24 June 2024 assessment
Contents
Ratings - Medical care (Including older people's care)
Our view of the service
We carried out this assessment of medical care (including older people’s care) at Cheltenham General Hospital (CGH) following information of concern we received around staffing levels and culture of this service.
We inspected 10 quality statements across the safe, caring and responsive key questions. We rated this service as good overall which was the same as for the previous inspection.
The service had a good safety culture where service leaders investigated incidents, and learning was embedded to promote good practice. The oncology department staff reported they were well supported by the practice development team and had received specialist training which senior nursing staff had completed. There were enough qualified, skilled and experienced people across all the areas of the medical division we visited. Additional staff were provided should the operational need arise. The environment was clean in all areas of the medical service we visited
People's experience of this service
People’s feedback about this service was overall positive.
People told they felt supported to make decisions in line with relevant legislation and guidance. We spoke with 1 person who told us about a frank conversation they held with their oncologist about quality over quantity in terms of their life expectancy. From these discussions the person told us they made an informed choice between a surgical intervention and chemotherapy.
People told us that staff members displayed understanding and non-judgemental attitudes towards the people they cared for and staff were happy to help them with their personal care and saw what it meant to them. Staff within the medicines division actively encouraged people to raise concerns or make a complaint if necessary. People told us it was easy for them to access the complaints process to make a complaint or raise concerns, although nobody we spoke with had needed to raise a complaint.
Staff explained how people were treated compassionately and given the help and support needed through the use of accessible information aids, to access all of the information they needed to raise a complaint or concern. However, several people who used the medicine division services stated that those close to them and their representatives were not always actively engaged and involved in decision-making. Some people told us how their partners and loved ones were not always openly involved in conversations around rehabilitation and goal setting. They told us this made them not feel very involved in their own care.