Enter and View visit to Laurel Ward, Queen Mary’s Hospital
What we did
Laurel Ward is a ward at Queen Mary's Hospital, Roehampton where people with mental health issues are admitted if they are very unwell. Usually people are admitted, if their care cannot be managed in the community by the Crisis and Home Treatment Team or Community Mental Health Team.
The ward is for men aged between 18 and 75. The most common diagnoses for patients on the ward are bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder and a few patients with personality disorder.
The aim of the ward is to keep patients safe while they are acutely unwell and to help them return to a level of stability so they can safely return to care in the community.
This was the third of a series of Enter and View visits to in-patient wards operated by South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust.
The team planned to:
- Identify examples of good working practice.
- Observe patients and staff and their surroundings.
- Capture the experience of patients, and of relatives and visitors and any ideas they might have for change and/or improvement.
We visited the Ward on 1st February 2017. We spoke to eight patients and received comments from two relatives whom we contacted by email or by telephone.
Key Findings
Generally, both the patients and relatives we spoke to were happy with most aspects of their experience on the ward, including:
- the amount of information given.
- staff – with many people using the word ‘approachable’ to described staff.
- medication, therapy and physical health care.
- the range of activities provided on the ward.
- the food provided
- regular visits from relatives or friends
Our findings reflect credit to the staff and management of Laurel Ward as well as the senior leadership of the Trust.
However, one patient we talked to was still shocked and upset by the process of his compulsory detention and admission the previous morning, and was not positive about his experiences on the ward.
Other patients also talked about the difficulties around being admitted to the ward, and especially the need for staff to show empathy from the start.
Our Recommendations
Our main recommendation is for patients' concerns to be listened to with empathy, particularly in the first few hours of admission.
In addition, we suggest some specific ideas for improvement, concerning 1:1 time, real-time feedback, meals (including takeaway meals) and the carers support group.
What happens next
We asked the Trusts to respond to our recommendations. Read their response and planned actions following our visit below.
Download the reports
If you need this report in a different format, please e-mail
enquiries@healthwatchwandsworth.co.uk or call 020 8516 7767
