Huddersfield Royal Infirmary

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

At our last assessment we rated this key question good. At this assessment the rating remained good. This meant people felt well-supported, cared for or treated with dignity and respect.

We looked for evidence people were always treated with kindness, empathy and compassion. We checked people’s privacy and dignity was respected, and they understood their experience of how they were treated and supported mattered. We also looked for evidence every effort was made to take people’s wishes into account and respect their choices, to achieve the best possible outcomes for them.

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

We observed staff providing compassionate care with respectful and positive interactions with patients across all clinics.

Staff respected and upheld patient’s privacy and dignity during their care or treatment. For example, they used ‘do not disturb’ signs on doors to rooms where blood sampling took place.

Staff took time to interact with patients and those close to them respectfully and responsively. They gave considerate and compassionate care to patients throughout their procedure.

Staff understood and respected the personal, cultural, social and religious needs of patients and how they related to their care.

The service 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 strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics.

OPD specialties which saw patients under 18 years old would send staff to the children’s outpatients. The gynaecology service had a new standard operating procedure (SOP) for under 16-year-olds in this regard.

We heard examples of holistic and person-centred care in surgical outpatients. A long-term surgical outpatient who attended the vascular clinic for their wound dressings. The nursing team visited the ward to clean and renew their dressings, so they did not have to return to clinic. The surgical OPD team also visited Frailty SDEC to change dressings. This meant outpatients received prompt personalised care outside the usual settings to prevent hospital re-attendance or readmission.

The main hospital and outbuildings with OPD services had a chapel and prayer room facilities nearby for staff, patients and visitors to use.

Department waiting areas had some dementia-friendly provision. For example, orthopaedics had hospital appointment packs with ‘things you need to know about me’ cards and extra support available for people with dementia. This helped patients who were confused or cognitively impaired and their carers or loved ones know if their appointments ran on time. Outpatients in ophthalmology with autism or a learning disability could be accommodated in a sensory room at a nearby site. We heard space and privacy for people in some clinics could be limited onsite.

Some OPD areas had more provision for patients with dementia and autism. During our assessment the service was partaking in a research project in conjunction with a regional university. This aimed to improve experiences of outpatient services for people living with dementia, support families and staff. Project leads had provided recommendations used to rollout additional support for people with dementia and autism into other OPD clinic areas.

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

Outpatients could download and use the NHS App to view messages about their care. The trust had rolled out a portal so patients could independently register their contact preferences and view their appointment letters.

Staff gave patients and those close to them help, emotional support and advice when they needed it. For example, they offered patients chaperones in line with the trust policy, if they wanted someone to accompany them to appointments. Respiratory and gastroenterology clinic staff always had 2 rooms booked to help them provide emotional support to people when needed.

Staff understood the emotional and social impact a person’s care, treatment or condition had on their wellbeing. Medical outpatients could offer people their diagnostic treatment room as a quiet space. Staff could book longer clinic appointment slots for outpatients when breaking bad news.

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.

Managers planned and organised services to meet the local population’s changing needs.

The service had systems to help care for patients in need of additional support or specialist intervention. For example, the paediatric clinic had appointed a play therapist shortly before our assessment. Staff would capture any individual needs patients had on their assessment or consultation forms. They could help patients unable to complete paperwork alone.

The OPD team accommodated outpatients’ mental health needs and mobility issues. For example, staff supported one anxious patient who attended clinic with mental health issues. They gave the patient extra time in a calm environment, and explained next steps at every stage.

Some OPD clinics lacked staff facilities or environmental adaptations. However, the service cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centered care.

Some OPD staff told us they were overworked, and their workloads were unmanageable.

Surgical outpatient staff told us their lunch breaks were often interrupted. They also had no staff room or toilet facilities nearby.

However, receptionists of OPD clinics had protected lunch hour breaks. Nurses covered them in some clinics.

Staff could access wellbeing support at the trust. They could ring a number to gain access to personalised support and had an employee assistance programme for advice, information and counselling. Managers debriefed and supported staff after severe or distressing incidents.

OPD was committed to fostering an inclusive, supportive, and engaging workplace culture. The main OPD reception had a pull-up banner including all the team’s nationalities as part of the trust’s culture of care. Leads actively encouraged suggestions from all OPD teams to help them continuously improve the working environment and enhance staff wellbeing. One support staff member with a hidden disability told us all their needs were met and they felt well supported.

Specialties had their own monthly newsletters, which included training information. Friends and family test (FFT) data and staff feedback including team and individual recognition for colleagues. The eye clinic had a bespoke mailout called ‘vision vault’ distributed to all ophthalmic and senior staff members.

OPD adopted a transparent ‘You said, we did’ approach to staff feedback. We saw these posters displayed in staff areas.