West Middlesex University Hospital Compassionate Care Project

In November 2014, Healthwatch Richmond visited West Middlesex University Hospital to ask inpatients about their experiences of care. They spent nearly 70 hours in the Hospital over three weeks, speaking to more than 100 patients and observing care.

Most of the patients spoken to rated the care and treatment at the hospital positively, but there was substantial diversity among the wards. On each ward some patients said that they had not received help or care when they had asked for it. The importance of this to individual patients, and that it was experienced across the hospital as a whole, makes this a significant issue for West Middlesex Hospital to address. Healthwatch also found that some patients had poor experiences of discharge and problems around mealtimes but really positive experiences of cleanliness on most of the wards.