Young Healthwatch Northamptonshire 15 Steps Visit Northampton General Hospital

This is a report by Healthwatch Northamptonshire. The project was conducted by young volunteers and the report was also written by them.

The areas that were visited at Northampton General Hospital were very welcoming and appear clean and well managed. They are calm and the staff that we saw were confident. The patients and their parents that we spoke to were happy with their experiences. There are many well thought out areas of Northampton General Hospital for children however there appears to be a lack of thought for teenagers, although in some areas this has been acknowledged and staff are looking to change this. 

There are recommendations in this report.

• Signage to Paediatric A and E could be improved so that it can be found easily when accessing it from all areas of the hospital. 
• Ensure that the language used is simplified enough so that it can be understood by young people.
• Make the emergency mental health rooms in paediatric A and E look more welcoming by adding some colour or designs to them. 
• There could be more thought given to young people and teenagers in all areas of Northampton General Hospital. Although there is free Wi-Fi available a lot of the areas are aimed at smaller children. 

There are no follow up actions in the report. However the providers have responded to the report.