Tees Valley Hospital

• The patient environments were safe, clean and well maintained.
• The service followed good practice with respect to safeguarding.
• The service always had enough staff. Managers ensured that these staff received training, and appraisal. The staff worked well together as a multidisciplinary team
• Care plans were individualised and included discharge plans.
• Staff planned patient discharge well and liaised with services that would provide aftercare. Patients lengths of stay were short.
• Staff engaged in clinical audit to evaluate the quality of care they provided.
• Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, and understood their individual needs. They involved patients and families and carers in care decisions.
• The service was well led, and the governance processes ensured that procedures ran smoothly.

However:

• Some potentially hazardous areas on the ward were not always secure. For example, the domestic store room and dirty utility room were unlocked, which allowed potential unauthorised access.
• Staff did not always manage medicines in accordance with local policy. For example, patient unique identification numbers were not always recorded in the controlled drug register on the ward. In the outpatient department, medicines that had reached expiry date were not always removed promptly.
• Staff we spoke with told us they did not attend clinical supervision, nor was it offered by managers.