Kingston Hospital- Adult inpatient wards
Summary
When asked how they would describe their overall care on the ward, 94% of patients gave positive feedback. Patients were generally very pleased with the care received.
“Great…the amount of care is incredible”.
Nurses were given almost universal praise from patients, with many expressing admiration and respect for them as they were perceived to work incredibly hard.
“Absolutely lovely, they go above and beyond the call of duty”
It was striking that there was a calm feel to the wards given the busy nature of being in hospital. The experiences of patients at night were far more mixed with the main cause being unavoidable disturbances from other patients.
Communication
Most patients felt well informed about their treatment, and doctors ensured they had a good level of understanding and were able to get answers to their questions. It was disappointing to hear of a few occasions where staff lacked awareness when it came to the particular communication needs of that patient.
The Hospital told us that they run communication training for staff, and offer the Sage and Thyme training course. They will share the report as part of their induction and governance processes.
Food/drink
Food was generally considered good by patients with favourable feedback collected. Patients on Derwent ward were not clearly being offered a choice of food and the provision of meals in the discharge lounge was unclear.
We raised this with the Hospital who have made changes to their meal service so that patients in the discharge lounge will now be offered meals. There were two Quality Improvement Projects underway and the Hospital will review the impact of these in March 2020.
Feedback from staff
Staff felt welcome on the ward, were supported by senior staff and had confidence raising incidents/concerns. Staff were notably more discontented on Kennet ward, and were more likely to refer to issues around staffing and the stress that this puts them under.
We asked the Hospital to address these concerns. In response the Hospital told us they will be implementing measures to improve team relationships on the ward and to reduce the reliance on temporary staff.
Download our full report or executive summary
West Middlesex Hospital
In 2018 we undertook a similar review of inpatient wards at West Middlesex University Hospital.
