Older Peoples' Wards "helpful, caring and supportive"
Patients and their families and carers have described services at four older peoples' wards in Leeds as "helpful, caring and supportive" in the latest report from the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust runs four wards for older people at The Mount facility near the centre of Leeds. Two wards cater for older people with mental health needs and two for older people living with dementia.
The unit was assessed as part of the Trust’s comprehensive inspection in July 2016 and has now received a rating of good in a final report published on Friday 18 November 2016. The unit had been rated inadequate by the CQC when the last inspection results were published in January 2015.
In the latest report, patients and relatives spoke highly about the staff and the care and support they gave. They described staff as ‘excellent’, ‘great’, ‘helpful’ ‘caring’ and ‘supportive’. They told the inspection team staff treated them with kindness, respect and professionalism. One patient said of the staff: “they all love me.”
Paul Exley, Matron for Older Peoples’ Inpatient Services at Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, said: “This is a great result and a testament to the hard work that our staff and the Trust has put in to improve services for older people in Leeds.
“We take great pride in our work. After all, these people could our own relatives so we always aim for high standards of dignity and respect for our patients.
“We’ve recently completed a fantastic piece of work on our dementia wards to make them more dementia friendly. The work was focused on promoting meaningful activity, helping people living with dementia to find their way, improving signage and getting the colours right.
“Reading some of the comments from patients, relatives and carers is really heart-warming and I’m truly proud of my team.”
Other highlights from the report include:
- Patients and their relatives felt the environment was safe.
- Patients spoke highly of the staff and said they were treated with kindness and respect. Relatives were also complimentary about the staff and said they supported them in their role as carers. We saw positive and caring staff interactions with patients.
- Patients and relatives were able to give feedback via community and carers meetings that took place.
- Patients had access to advocacy support on the wards.
- Staff were knowledgeable about what incidents to report and felt confident in reporting them.
- Staff reported any safeguarding concerns as necessary to help ensure patients were protected from harm.
- Patients and relatives said staff were always present and visible. Our observations supported this. We saw activities took place which staff encouraged patients to participate in.
- Staff felt positive in their roles and spoke highly of the support they received from colleagues and managers. Staff were knowledgeable about the patients they supported and their needs.
- Patients and relatives said they would feel comfortable speaking with staff if they had any complaints to make. Relatives said any issues had been resolved in the past where they had raised them. We saw complaints were dealt with thoroughly.
- Staff completed comprehensive assessments of patients’ needs, incorporating any specialist care needs.
- Staff reviewed care plans and risk assessments regularly and updated them in response to patients’ needs. Patients and relatives were involved in these reviews.