The Princess Royal 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 looked for evidence that people were always treated with kindness, empathy and compassion. We checked that people’s privacy and dignity was respected, that they understood that they and their experience of how they were treated and supported mattered. We also looked for evidence that every effort was made to take people’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 as Requires Improvement. At this assessment the rating has changed to Good.

This meant people were supported and treated with dignity and respect; and involved as partners in their care. However, we have identified some breaches relating to Regulation 10. Dignity and Respect : The emergency department did not ensure the privacy of patients. Assessment and treatment were often not carried out in privacy because in some places such as the ambulance offload, or corridor as the areas where patients were, they were close together and separated only by curtains. It was often difficult for staff to speak to people in complete privacy and conversations took place in areas where they could be overheard.

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

Staff attitudes and behaviours when interacting with patients showed that they were discreet, respectful and responsive, providing patients with help, emotional support and advice at the time they needed it.

Staff treated people with kindness. People felt staff listened to them and communicated with them in a way they could understand. They said they had their privacy and dignity respected, and those who had been held in temporary areas of the department due to crowding said staff were doing their best to maintain this. They said staff had been mindful of keeping voices low and had taken people to other more private areas for anything more intimate or personal. However, due to crowding in the department and the difficult environment there were some concerns about patient’s privacy being met by patients. This was recognised by most of the staff who were doing as much as they could to support privacy and dignity for patients.

Staff and managers recognised privacy could be an issue at times. There were a few spaces in the department they were able to move patients into if they needed to perform a procedure/assessment or needed a private conversation, but this was not always possible due to the high volume of patients being seen.

There was a culture of kindness and respect between colleagues. Staff collaborated with other experienced colleagues to provide support for people with mental ill health including children and provided support with emotional wellbeing. They supported children and their families in decision making about their care and treatment. Staff understood the process to assess whether a child had the competence to make their own decisions and give consent to any care or treatment.

Staff listened and acted upon people’s needs including contacting family or friends. Staff locked patient records when they moved away from computer screens to maintain confidentiality.

Staff directed patients to other services when appropriate and, if required, supported them to access those services. We spoke to families in the PED, and they were happy with the care despite the long waits in the department. One told us, “The whole team were fantastic and very child focused”. The PED had a play development worker in attendance.

Most people told us they felt safe with staff, and they would respond to their needs quickly and efficiently. However, some patients said staff were known to be exceptionally busy and sometimes they were not attended to as quickly. Patients mostly said staff responded quickly if they were in pain or discomfort. However, some patients who described their experience in the department when responding to our annual patient survey of emergency departments people said they were waiting for many hours in the waiting area. The survey looked at the experiences of people who were receiving care or treatment in ED and had been treated by the trust in February 2024. Between April 2025 and July 2025, a questionnaire was sent to 950 people who had used Type 1 services. Responses were received by 284 people (a response rate of 29.9%) who used Type 1 services at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.

Matron monthly quality data checks showed us that in November 2025, 98.6%, December 2025 100% and January 2026 95.7%, patient safety, privacy and dignity was adhered to.

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 aware of and dealt with any specific risk issues, such as falls or pressure ulcers and care planned for these accordingly. Staff identified and responded to changing risks to patients.

Nursing staff each looked after a small number of patients which enabled them to better understand people’s needs and wishes. One trainee nurse we met had a good history and understanding of a patient they were looking after and described them well, matching what had been recorded in the patient’s notes. Staff were able to find out how to support people to meet their immediate needs. This included finding ways to communicate with them effectively.

We saw in patient survey results, staff mostly responded to people’s needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress. We found patient call bells were answered promptly and despite the long waits in the department, patients felt the care was good, 67% of patients (479) were satisfied with the service provided.

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.

Staff said they were mostly able to get breaks, but at some of the busiest times it was not easy. Some staff who were more remote from others in the large footprint of the department said they often failed to get breaks as there was no one to cover them. We heard some of the senior nursing staff checking on their teams to see if they were due a break, had something recently to drink or if they needed anything else. Staff told us there was a good flexible working policy and approach to supporting them with a work/life balance as much as possible.

When we asked some staff if they felt they would get support if they were struggling both nursing and medical staff said they felt they would. Doctors told us they were well supported in terms of their wellbeing by the consultants. Staff in minors expressed how at times oversight of their services was not always forthcoming and many staff we spoke with felt they were ignored. Some went on to tell us that they were asked to do tasks beyond their band grade.

Staff completed an annual staff survey. The most recent was completed in 2025, and 661 staff had completed the survey out of 2,083 (32%). The service created an action plan and the focus for ED was to look further into the 51 questions that had declined since 2024. There were 33 questions that was highlighted as an improvement since 2024, top 3 being around pay satisfaction, exhaustion from shift to shift, and not leaving the organisation. 49% of respondents recommended the trust as a place to work and 45% would be happy with the standard of care provided if a friend or relative needed treatment. The trust launched a suggestion box in staff rest areas where staff could anonymously say what was on their mind, suggestions were collated and fed back to staff via a “you said, we did” initiative.

Staff felt respected, supported and valued. Staff told us the culture was mostly good and there was great teamwork between all staffing groups. Staff described the team as a “fabulous nursing team with supportive consultants” and “fantastic teamwork”. However, we were told while relationships were mostly good between the nurses there were some tensions between nurses and management. Some staff shared some concerns with us that not all staff were supported by the management team, and they had witnessed some unprofessional behaviours. Staff told us they were confident that concerns raised would be dealt with by their senior teams.

There were clear policies that supported staff and managers by providing clear expectations, ensured consistency and encouraged a healthy work life balance through flexibility policies. Psychological safety was promoted by means of open communication, Freedom to Speak Up Guardians, regular one to ones with managers, open door access to senior leadership. Staff appraisals included conversations about career development and how it could be supported. As of February 2026, we saw that 91% of the medical team and 74% of nurses had received their appraisals below trust target.

Staff had access to support for their physical and emotional health needs through an occupational health service. Staff could access various services to promote their wellbeing which included psychological, healthy living, physical and financial support. Pastoral care colleagues were always available to offer pastoral support to staff.

The provider recognised staff success within the service. Staff were able to nominate individuals who had gone the extra mile for an award.

The department carried out a wellbeing Sunday to celebrate culture and staff. On one Sunday staff celebrated Diwali and on another brought their favourite dishes to work for others to try. Staff told us they aimed to do this every Sunday.