- NHS hospital
Pilgrim Hospital
Assessment report published 14 May 2026
Contents
Ratings - Medical care (Including older people's care)
Our view of the service
Date of assessment: 28 January 2026
We carried out a short notice announced responsive inspection of the Medicine assessment service group on the 28 January 2026 due to intelligence received. We inspected quality statements across the five key questions: safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.
During our inspection we visited: Ward 6A, ward 6B, Ward 7A, Ward 7B, Ward 8A and the discharge lounge. These wards included care for the elderly, respiratory and gastroenterology.
We spoke with members of staff including healthcare assistants, staff nurses, sisters, senior sisters, matrons and managers. We reviewed care records and risk assessments. We also received feedback from patients who were using the service.
We rated the service as good.
Safe:
We rated safe as good, however on this inspection we found some areas that required improvement. The service did not always maintain safe and effective staffing levels and there were some concerns in relation to Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) paperwork and restrictive practices. However, the service had a proactive and positive culture of safety, maintained a safe care environment, worked with people to understand and manage risks and made sure medicines and treatments were safe and met people’s needs.
Effective:
We rated effective as good, however on this inspection we found some areas that required improvement. This meant people’s care needs were not always assessed and reviewed.
Caring:
We rated caring as good. This meant people were treated with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
Responsive:
We rated responsive as good. This meant that the service planned the future for patients.
Well led:
We rated well led as good, however we on this inspection we found some areas that required improvement.
People's experience of this service
We received feedback from patients during the inspection. Patients, family and carers we spoke with were all positive about the staff treating them with warmth and kindness and told us they felt safe. People told us communication with them was generally good and they were happy with the care they received. Staff were described as, ‘brilliant’, and we were told that ‘they were doing everything they possibly could for them’.
Friends and family data provided following the inspection for the wards we inspected, showed that across 2025, on average, 82.9% of patients felt they had a positive experience and 7.5% of patients felt they had a negative experience.