Sunderland Royal Hospital TOPIC wards patient feedback

The South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust asked Healthwatch South Tyneside and Healthwatch Sunderland to obtain patient feedback that could support the TOPIC programme by obtaining patient, family and carer and staff feedback to provide valuable information that could aid the development of improvement initiatives in older people’s care.  They spoke to 52 people.

Food and drink

High levels of satisfaction were received from both patients and their families and carers when reporting back on the quality and quantity of food and drink on the wards, both during mealtimes and outside of those times. This was also the case for support available from staff during these times. Nearly two thirds of patients stated that they were not encouraged or supported to clean their hands prior to meals being served on the wards. Observations from the Healthwatch Team during the visits, which all took place leading up to a lunch service, witnessed very few staff asking patients to wash or wipe their hands prior to eating their meal. A third of patients and most of family and carer respondents stated that patients were not encouraged to change out of their nightwear during the day. 

Activities

High numbers of patients and family and carers stated that there were no activities available on the ward. 29% of staff also added that they aren’t confident to support patients to take part in activities. 

Sleep

Over a third of patients stated they don’t sleep well on the wards with many commenting that the noise levels of machines and other patients prevent this. 29% of staff felt the patients on the ward didn’t sleep well, with 43% stating they were unsure about this. Some staff also commented that patients often request earbuds / sleep masks to support them to sleep better and would like these to be made available. 

Staff

Both patients and their families and carers indicated high levels of satisfaction when asked about communication about care, consent around the sharing of patient information and how comfortable they were around asking questions regarding care. Some staff indicated that there are low staffing levels on some of the wards which can affect their ability to best meet the needs of the patients. We also received comments from patients and family and carers stating that they had observed staff looking stretched and very busy on occasion.. Patients and their families and carers mostly stated that staff were available to offer them support if they needed to use the toilet. High levels of staff responses were received with regards to confidence levels on several aspects of communication and care, however some staff indicated they lacked confidence when it came to sharing information around discharge.