Enter and view: Southmead Hospital (Mason and Oakwood Wards)

In January 2018 Healthwatch Bristol conducted an Enter and View visit to two wards at the Southmead Hospital; Mason Ward and Oakwood Ward. Both wards aim to provide a holistic service that provides interventions around mental health crisis, wellbeing and physical health. The service is provided by the Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership Trust (AWP).

The purpose of the visit was to gather feedback from residents about their experiences of care on the wards and follow up on recommendations made by Healthwatch Bristol when they visited in autumn 2015. AWP was rated as “Requires Improvement” by the CQC in summer 2017.

Healthwatch Bristol representatives visited acute wards and spent time speaking with service users, visitors and staff. Observations were made about the environment and interactions between the service users and staff team.

Key areas explored within the report are quality of care, rights, choice, activities, food, environment, accessibility, staff and concerns.

Healthwatch Bristol commends the wards for their caring, hardworking staff and managers. Oakwood’s activity timetable and food options were highly praised by service users, who also said they were involved in their care planning, as were their families.

Impact from the 2015 Enter and View report is evident; service users at Oakwood said there were enough staff for them to take part in activities and that food portion size was good. Mason ward has also been redecorated as per Healthwatch’s 2015 recommendation.

However, there were still areas identified for further improvement. A total of 8 recommendations were made but the report does not contain a response from the provider.