Royal Derby 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 found women and their families were treated with kindness, empathy and compassion. We also found women were not always treated with dignity and respect. Staff did provide kindness, support and compassion to women. We also looked for evidence and mostly efforts were made to take women’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 good. At this assessment the rating has changed to requires improvement. This meant women did not always feel well-supported, cared for or treated with dignity and respect.

This service scored 60 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

During the assessment some women and their families reported concerns with the poor attitude and unprofessional behaviours demonstrated by doctors. We escalated this to leaders during the assessment.

The service did not always respect women’s privacy and dignity. The trust had implemented a formal handover process, which involved a group discussion in the office and the individual handovers at bedside in the patient bay. We observed, patient handovers, and heard intimate and personal information discussed in detail within earshot, of all of the patients in the bay. Staff told us they were not happy with handover process but were told it could not be changed as this was a trust wide policy.

However, 2 women reported staff were friendly, compassionate and responded to their needs. One person told us that the care was “amazing” and the bedside manner was “great”. We observed ward staff interacting with women and saw they were treated with kindness and compassion.

We saw the midwifery team treated women as individuals and made sure women’s care, support and treatment met women’s needs and preferences. Staff took account of women’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics.

Women felt they were being treated for individual needs; this was evident in the birth plans we reviewed.

Staff described how they would cater for mothers from different cultures and religions. For example, women were support when they chose to retain their placenta as part of their cultural beliefs.

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

Birthing plans and wishes were taken into consideration during women’s care and staff understood that they when they were able to intervene.

Staff would cater for any birthing wants and needs. For example, staff would offer birthing pools for those who requested it when they were available. The trust would also offer other techniques to help with labour such as aroma therapy.

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

Women felt their immediate needs were catered to. For example, staff responding to call bells and requests.

For women who do not have English as their first language or were non English speaking, there is a “interpreter laptop” to aide communication. We were also told by staff that there is work on going to support women who require British Sign Language.

It appeared that the service did not always care about or promote the wellbeing of their staff. The service did also not ways did not support or enable staff to deliver person-centred care.

Leaders informed they had an open door policy; however, staff did not feel able or empowered to raise concerns without retribution. For example, some staff told us they felt that if they raised concerns they or a colleague may be unjustifiably suspended without reason. We heard examples of bullying and harassment at work during the assessment for example receiving phone calls outside of working hours giving negative feedback and or non-urgent requests. This was impacting on staff members psychological wellbeing and work life balance.

Senior leaders were not visible in the clinical areas. The midwifery team articulated there was a disconnect between the service leaders and the operational clinical staff, and therefore did not understand their everyday roles and concerns.