Report of visit to ward 43 at UHCW
What we found
We visited ward 43 at University Hospital Coventry four times. We talked to patients, some staff and carried out observations to understand care on the ward.
This ward supports patients who are vulnerable and, in some cases, have limited communication. Some are experiencing confusion, and some have low expectations of the care they receive. We also found that some family members told us they did not want to make a fuss or complain.
We didn't find our visits a positive experience because we didn't feel welcome on the ward and patients and relatives shared concerns about care. We also observed some aspects of care that were a cause for concern.
Key findings:
- When we arrived at the ward we waited a long time to be let in through the locked door.
- Staff were not communicating well with each other and alarm bells, the doorbell and telephones were not answered.
- Relatives told us they did not feel they got enough information or could not get through to the ward on the phone. Patients expressed worries about what their discharge plan was and did not feel informed.
- We saw some positive interactions between staff and patients using clear language, with good eye contact.
- The privacy and dignity of some patients was not considered and we heard that staff were not always responsive to patients' needs, for example, going to the toilet.
- Patient feedback about the food was largely positive, however our observations raised concerns about the extent to which patients were supported to eat and drink. A lot of food was returned untouched and the hospital’s protected mealtime process was not used.
Improving care
We immediately raised concerns regarding privacy and dignity, quality of care, the safety of patients at mealtimes and adequate nutrition/ hydration, with senior managers at UHCW.
We met with the Deputy Chief Nurse to outline our concerns and ask the trust to investigate the underlying issues. This was a constructive meeting, and we felt that actions would begin.
We had second meeting with the Chief Nurse to discuss the actions the trust was taking to understand issues further and address our concerns. Again, we were listened to, and the trust has a comprehensive action plan in place.
A summary of the actions is within our report.
We made an unannounced visit to the Ward on 29 February 2024 and we found positive changes on the ward at lunchtime, with communication and the feel of the ward.
“Our findings show the value of Healthwatch visiting services as an independent set of eyes"."
UHCW listened to the concerns we raised about care on ward 43, and took this seriously. They quickly began actions designed to understand more about what was leading to problems and to improve care.”
"We revisited on 29th February we saw that progress had been made with staff communication and supporting people to eat and drink."
