Enter and view: Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust – Royal Albert Edward Infirmary

Healthwatch Wigan conducted a series of announced Enter and View visits, between 30th March and 16th April 2015, to at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary site of Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust. The departments and wards visited included the Accident and Emergency Unit, Clinical Decisions Ward, Medical Admissions Unit (MAU) and the Discharge Lounge.

The visits to RAEI were prompted by the recent success the Trust was having, not only in winning awards, but also in achieving the A&E target of less than 4 hr waiting times more than any other hospital in the Northwest. Healthwatch Wigan wondered what WWL were doing differently to other Trusts and maybe more importantly what had the Trust done in the past few years to bring about such a dramatic improvement in the standard of care being delivered. The E&V team agreed that they would like to make several visits to RAEI to view not only the Emergency Care Unit but also the discharge procedures and facilities.

The E&V team were also invited to attend various planning meetings to see how the Trust planned the safe and timely discharge of patients, and to meet with Directors and Senior Managers to review the strategic planning for the winter period and coming year.

The report lists the observation results from the tour to Accident & Emergency, CDW/MAU, Discharge Lounge, Discharge Meetings, and the meetings with the Discharge team and the Senior Staff. The grounds were well kept and clearly sign posted, as was the signage inside the hospitals. The report comments on the corridors being clutter free and the walls well decorated.

Despite some issues still need resolving the Healthwatch team were very impressed with their observations of the staff and services. It was pointed out in the report that this improvement has happened as a result of a lot of hard work by many people working in the Trust. There has been a considerable amount of planning and redesigning of the services that has allowed the Trust to make the improvements required. The patients interviewed were all happy with their care and treatment received although they were at times frustrated at waiting without being informed about the reason for the wait. Patients and their families were impressed with the cleanliness of the RAEI and the domestic staff are to be congratulated on their hard work in maintaining a high standard. The E&V team were also pleased to see the joint working between the Trust and local voluntary services to help patients after they leave hospital.

The team made several recommendations which are detailed in the report.

The report includes a Healthwatch Report Action log, which includes the response from the Trust, and lists the target date for the action and the date the action was completed.