Nuffield Health Warwickshire Hospital

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• 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.

Staff put patients at the centre of what they did. They took time to interact with patients and those close to them in a respectful and considerate way.

There was a culture of kindness and respect between the staff. Many staff told us the area they worked and the hospital itself was like a family. Staff felt supported by their colleagues as well as managers. A staff member told us they had to have a major operation 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 observed a patient journey from the ward down to theatre and into recovery. We saw the staff speak to the patient with kindness and compassion. The operating department practitioner explained what they were doing at each stage. When the patient was asleep following the anaesthetic, the team always maintained the patients’ dignity.

Patients were given the opportunity to ask questions, so they understood the decisions they were being asked to make. The abbey pain scoring system was used for patients living with dementia on the ward. We reviewed the patient satisfaction survey and 97% of patients said their consultant showed understanding assessing their treatment needs.

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 pain prompts.

Staff supported patients to make informed decisions about their care. We observed staff in preassessment appointments carefully explain treatment options to their patients and helped them to come to an informed decision about their care. We observed tips to prevent falls on the wall on every patient room on the ward. Staff also provided advice on preventing falls when patients were discharged home.

A patient who attended a preassessment appointment was able to choose another preferred Nuffield location to facilitate travel. Patients had single rooms with ensuite facilities and families could visit them for longer hours during the day.

Patients were supported to have choice and control over their own care and make decisions about their treatment and wellbeing. Each patient had their own room on the ward. There was a range of appropriate equipment to support and maximise people’s independence and outcomes from care and treatment. There was a physiotherapist and occupational therapy team to support patients to maintain independence and mobility after surgery.

Staff made sure patients living with mental health problems, learning disabilities and dementia, received the necessary care to meet all their needs. The hospital had a trained psychologist, and patients could be referred where necessary. The hospital had a dementia and learning disability champion. A board in the staff room on the ward detailed communication strategies for staff to follow when caring for people living with dementia. Managers also arranged ‘The Big Dementia Conversation’ training day for staff to attend externally. There was a ward-based kitchen and the service had hostesses who served food from the ward kitchen. Hostesses notified nursing staff if a patient had not eaten their served meal.

The service sought feedback from patients using the Friends and Family Test (FFT). The FFT gives people who use the service the opportunity to highlight both good and poor patient experience. Results published in May 2024 revealed the hospital had received an average satisfied rating of 94% which was the same as the Nuffield total average of 94%. Staff told 92% of patients who to contact if they were worried about their treatment or condition when they left the hospital.

Managers ensured staff well-being was important within their culture. Staff had regular breaks and there were appropriate rest areas. The senior management team did daily walkarounds of all the areas. Staff told us they were very visible. We observed good team working throughout the areas we visited. Most staff told us they worked well as a team and helped each other. We saw managers were mostly visible and approachable at all levels. Managers went above and beyond for their team. For example, theatres had employed 2 international nurses in April 2024. The theatre manager and their team went above and beyond to support and make them settle into their new role and environment. The theatre manager told us that when they first took over as manager, the team was fragmented. They started to do yoga in recovery prior to starting their day to bring them together and improve the morale. Theatre staff told us their manager was very supportive. They gave an example when a consultant was rude to them, they escalated it to the manager and they facilitated a discussion and the issue was resolved. They were grateful for the support.

Managers had team meetings to feedback to staff and hear their suggestions for improvements. All managers sent minutes to staff following meetings to ensure all staff knew the information. Feedback was also disseminated via email and an online closed communication application. The theatre manager had introduced 2 suggestion boxes in the lobby. One was for staff to anonymously make suggestions, and the other was to nominate an individual for team member of the month. The winner was announced at the team meeting and the theatre manager always bought them a gift.