- NHS mental health service
Archived: Thurrock Hospital
Important:
This service is now managed by a different provider - see new profile
All Inspections
4 March 2013
During an inspection looking at part of the service
One of the carers said that the food appeared good and that there was enough provided. They said they had requested a particular dish and that it had been provided. However, the second carer informed us that the trust had recently changed caterers and that whilst the quality of the food was generally good, portions were small and their spouse was often still hungry after a meal. They said that the choice of the modified textured food was also limited. They said they had raised this through the carers' forum. We raised this matter with the trust's director of integrated services at the time of our inspection, who said this would be reviewed.
We found that the trust had addressed the compliance actions we imposed at our last inspection. However, further work must be done to ensure that the malnutrition universal screening tool (MUST) scores and pressure area risk assessment (Waterlow) scores are completed and properly recorded on a regular basis. There was also a lack of timetabled activities taking place on Mayfield ward; however, we acknowledge that the activities co-ordinator's post was being recruited to.
8 August 2012
During a routine inspection
None of the people we spoke with were aware that there was an advocacy service available to them. The vast majority of the feedback we received was positive about the standards of care staff provided to people who were receiving care and treatment in this service. One person told us, 'I am not worried about anything; if I was the staff would listen to me,' and 'I feel safe here and well looked after.' One visitor reported that,'We feel very lucky that [our relative] is on this unit.' Other comments we received from other people were,'Staff are very nice; quite considerate.' and,'Staff are lovely and helpful' . Another person stated, 'Some of the staff are the best I've seen; there's only the odd one that could be more patient.'
However, there were some negative comments. One relative said they had seen a member of staff shouting at a person using the service. Another said that information was not always provided in a format that they could understand and that staff used too much jargon. Two other people said that their relatives had had falls on the ward and had been injured as a result but they were unhappy how this had been communicated to them. One person said that the nursing staff had not contacted them at the time to inform them that this had happened, whilst the second person said that they had been informed by staff but had received conflicting accounts as to how the incident had occurred.
Two people said that there was a lack of stimulating activities for people receiving care and treatment in this service, other than watching television. One relative said that the staff had played music recently, which people had really enjoyed, but it had only happened on one occasion in the six weeks their relative had been on the ward. Comments about the food provided were positive but one person said there was a lack of fresh fruit available.