Enter and View Visit Report Royal Shrewsbury Hospital Ward 24 – Cardiology

Healthwatch Shropshire undertook an Enter and View visit to Ward 24 at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital as they had had both positive and negative feedback from the public about cardiology services.  They spoke to 12 people on their visit, including staff, patients and relatives.

Findings

• The Ward has 32 beds; 12 endocrinology beds, 12 cardiology beds and 8 coronary care beds for patients needing a higher level of nursing.
• Staff told Healthwatch Shropshire they are often required to work on other wards meaning Ward 24 does not always have enough specialist trained staff leaving other staff to work long shifts
• There were high levels of satisfaction with the ward recorded on the Friends and Family and Patient Experience questionnaires.
• Healthwatch Shropshire saw curtains used to maintain patient privacy during care.
• One patient said that call bells were always answered quickly and three patients said that staff explained everything to them clearly.
• The ward was clean and calm.
• All the staff including Doctors were friendly and happy to talk to Healthwatch Shropshire.
• Patients spoke highly of the staff and commented on how hard the staff worked.
• Staff and patients said “more staff” would be good. Some patients were not sure about their plans for discharge.
• Patients said the food choice is good but one patient was unhappy as they had not received a lactose free meal. A member of staff immediately dealt with this situation.
• Patient discharge can be delayed by difficulties in getting care packages in place, for example at the weekend, by a lack of beds in community hospitals and by difficulties in arranging patient transport.
• The floorplan and directional signs on the corridors and website are confusing

Recommendations

• The Trust should continue to work with the transport service and care providers to reduce delays in discharges wherever possible.
• The Trust should improve staffing levels to reduce the number of staff being moved and asked to help on other wards; in order to improve staff morale and patient experience.
• The Trust should review floorplans on noticeboards and the website to enable relatives to find the ward easily.