Epsom General 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

The service consistently treated people with kindness, compassion and dignity, with patients and families reporting respectful, attentive and empathetic interactions.

Staff listened to patients, communicated clearly and introduced themselves, and call bells were responded to quickly across all wards.

National inpatient survey results from 2020–2024 showed the service performed in line with the national average for kindness, respect and dignity and overall experience.

Staff understood and responded to people’s immediate needs, providing individualised care and using interpreters where required; patients felt supported to understand their treatment and care plans.

Staff recognised and acted promptly on urgent needs, using appropriate assessment tools and escalating concerns when necessary.

The trust promoted staff wellbeing through a positive ward culture, wellbeing resources, support networks, events and recognition schemes, enabling staff to 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.

The evidence showed a good standard. The service treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect.

Patients told us they were treated with kindness and dignity by staff, and this was echoed by their families and friends. They also said the care they received from staff as kind, caring and responsive. They reported feeling well looked after and described staff interactions as respectful. Patients we spoke with told us they felt listened to.

In the national inpatient surveys from 2020 to 2024 showed the service performed in line with the national average for the following categories, kindness and compassion, respect and dignity and overall experience.

We reviewed the trust wide annual patient experience report for 2024/25. This showed there were ongoing challenges with data system transitions which impacted the friends and family test (FFT) data, compliance with accessible information standard and the integration of the trust’s specific patient experience and engagement forums. They had agreed a set of priorities to work to progress these areas of concern going into 2025/26.

The patients and families told us they felt staff communicated with them appropriately and in a way they could understand. Staff took time to introduce themselves and their role to patients and communicating with them in a respectful and considerate way.

Call bells were answered swiftly across all assessed wards.

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 evidence showed a good standard. 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.

Staff were knowledgeable about how to adapt care for individual patients. Staff provided individualised care according to both personal choice and risk assessments having involved the patient and their families in those conversations. Staff were able to access interpreters on the phone.

Patients told us they felt supported to understand their treatments, medications, and ongoing care plans. Many patients shared that staff took the time to explain medical decisions in a way that felt clear and approachable.

Staff were able to quickly recognise and respond when patients needed urgent help or support and used appropriate tools to assist with this. Observations were regularly completed, and any concerns were escalated appropriately, which meant people received the support they needed at the right time.

Staff supported patients with learning disabilities with additional support through increased staffing.

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

The culture on wards we visited was overall positive. Multidisciplinary working was embedded and respectful in its approach. Staff reported no concerns around diversity and acknowledged the hospital was demographically a diverse place both for staff and patients. Feedback to senior leaders took place regularly.

Staff could access information about managing their wellbeing via the trust intranet. The intranet had a dedicated staff wellbeing page. Wellbeing initiatives were available to staff. Staff could access information about smoking cessation, nutrition, mental health on the trust’s intranet. The trust held wellbeing events including grief awareness week and menopause awareness week. There were walking and running groups. Support for staff observing Ramadan to provide them with meals.

The trust held ‘CARE awards’, which were yearly staff awards, which celebrated individuals and teams who deliver outstanding care. The trust recognised long service staff.

Staff had access to staff network. In addition to this, network support groups, including LGBTQ IA network and the ethnic minorities network.