George Eliot NHS 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

Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, took account of their individual needs, and helped them understand their conditions. They provided emotional support to patients, families and carers.

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

Most patients we spoke with told us they were treated with kindness, compassion and dignity in their day-to-day care and support. They felt staff listened to them and communicated with them appropriately in a way they could understand. We saw staff interacting with a patient with learning difficulties and they had picture books to help with their understanding. We saw many thank you cards on all the wards expressing thanks for the care they had received. For example, “I cannot thank you enough for all the time, care and kindness you gave both myself and my husband.”

There was a culture of kindness and respect between the staff. Many staff told us the ward they worked on and the hospital itself was like a family. Staff felt supported by their colleagues as well as managers. A staff member told us about a bereavement in their family and how well their colleagues and managers had supported them both immediately and on their return to work. Staff followed policy to keep patient care and treatment confidential. Staff understood and respected the personal, cultural, social and religious needs of patients and how they may relate to care needs.

We saw that patient’s privacy and dignity was not always maintained for patients who were boarded on the wards. Their beds were in the middle of bay of 6 patients who were all facing them. Whilst a screen was provided, this had gaps between and if they required full privacy, this was not possible. Staff selected patients who were independently mobile and self-caring for boarding to ensure they were able to maintain their privacy and dignity as much as possible. They also gained their consent for boarding and completed a risk assessment. During our assessment it was dementia awareness week. The admiral nurses (dementia nurses) and Bob Jakin ward organised for music to be played within the serenity garden. The garden was primarily built for Bob Jakin ward and Felix Holt ward to enable patients to be outside and rehabilitate in a safe environment. We attended the live music performance alongside 12 patients who had been brought out in either wheelchairs or beds to enjoy the music. The staff ensured the patients were comfortable and the patients were clearly enjoying the performance. We observed a physiotherapy session on Felix Holt ward and the patient was comfortable, content and treated with dignity and the programme was relevant to their needs.

Patients told us they were treated as individuals and their preferences were understood. They told us that staff asked them about their home circumstances and ensured they were safe to go home. The wards adapted to meet the family’s needs where required. For example, we saw some feedback from a bereaved family who said “Your kindness and empathy extended beyond just medical care. Your willingness to listen, to offer words of encouragement, and to provide a shoulder to lean on meant more to us than words can express. Your presence provided solace during moments of uncertainty and helped us navigate the complexities of saying goodbye to our beloved mum/daughter/sister. We were allowed to stay on the ward around the clock and nothing was too much trouble. It may seem unusual to choose for a loved one to spend their final days on a ward, but we felt part of the AMU family, so supported and looked after.”

Staff made sure patients and those close to them understood their care and treatment. Staff talked to patients in a way they could understand, using communication aids where necessary. Staff told us they had different ways to communicate with patients who had different communication needs. They used a language line for patients who did not speak English as well as pictorial prompts.

Visiting hours were between 1pm and 8pm. We were told this was flexible if patients needed further support or were end of life. Families were able to support the patients with their meals when on the ward. We saw a few families helping their relatives eat at mealtimes. We were told by relatives that a patient did not like the food so they brought in extra meals for them to eat.

Staff were not always clear on how patients could give feedback on the service and care. They used thank you cards and feedback from patient advice and liaison service as forms of feedback. There was no clear standardised feedback for the wards. Managers told us there was a Friends and Family Test (FFT) but most wards we spoke to did not promote this or encourage responses. Some wards were using the volunteer service to assist in getting responses to the FFT. We saw that between November 2023 and April 2024 some wards did not have many responses to the FFT. For example, Bob Jakin Ward got 25 FFT responses and Felix Holt got 11 responses within the 6-month time period. We discussed this with the leadership team who said they had explored this within the patient experience group, and it was an action for improvement within their action plan. There was a clear emphasis on the patient voice with patient representatives attending a few of the directorate meetings including the falls steering group and medicine safety meeting.

Staff gave patients and those close to them help, emotional support and advice when they needed it. Staff demonstrated empathy when having difficult conversations. Staff understood the emotional and social impact that a person’s care, treatment or condition had on their wellbeing and on those close to them. We saw many thank you cards displayed on the wards which included messages such as “thank you for providing care and love for our dad. We will all be forever grateful for getting him home and that’s all down to all of you.” Each patient had a board behind their bed which had questions on to prompt them to ask prior to discharge such as “What is wrong with me?”, “What needs to happen for me to go home?” and “when can I go home?”. Patients told us this was really helpful. The service sought feedback from patients using the FFT. On average 350 patients completed these monthly and 80 to 85% of these reviews were deemed to be good or very good experience. The results were shared with all areas and actions taken where required. For example, a theme was night staff were noisy. Mary Garth ward were trialling a night charter for staff to take part in night walk rounds to review night time standards.

We spoke to an occupational therapist (OT) who went above and beyond for patients. For example, a patient had stopped drinking and they spent time with the patient to understand why. They told the OT it was due to the type of beaker they were given, and the OT went and bought one that they were happy with alongside other items to improve their hospital stay, and the patient had started drinking more again.

Managers ensured staff well-being was important within their culture. Staff had regular breaks and there were appropriate rest areas. There was a well-being team who did walkarounds and supported the teams. They also did walkarounds at night to ensure the night staff had a voice and felt supported. Matrons also did night walkabouts to ensure they were visible for night staff. We observed good team working throughout all the wards we visited. Most staff told us they worked well as a team and helped each other. We saw managers were visible and approachable from ward level to triumvirate level. Staff worked well together across the directorate. We were told about a staff member who had died within the service and staff from other wards all pulled together to staff the ward on the day of the funeral so all staff could attend.

Managers had team meetings to feedback to staff and hear their suggestions for improvements. However, a few told us they did not have them regularly due to the high acuity of patients and ensuring patient safety. The manager on CCU held these virtually to ensure more uptake. All managers sent minutes to staff following meetings to ensure all staff knew the information. Feedback was also disseminated via a closed social media group and newsletters.