Kidderminster Hospital and Treatment Centre

On this page

• Overview
• Assessing needs
• Delivering evidence-based care and treatment
• How staff, teams and services work together
• Supporting people to live healthier lives
• Monitoring and improving outcomes
• Consent to care and treatment

We assessed 6 quality statements from this key question. We have combined the scores for this area with scores based on the rating from the last inspection, which was requires improvement. Our rating for this key question has improved and is now good.

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

Feedback from people about the using the service was positive. Children, young people, their parents and carers felt involved in assessments and were confident staff understood their individual and cultural needs and ensured they had care that met their needs.

Staff were aware of the needs of children and young people and how they could be met. Theatre staff told us they were made aware of any special needs children may have such as autism, anxiety in addition to other health conditions such as allergies or diabetes both when the list was initially planned and again on the day of surgery.

Staff checked people’s health, care, and wellbeing needs during health reviews. The electronic patient records had digital flags to highlight any specific individual needs, such as a learning disability, anxiety, sight, hearing or mobility difficulties or a need for a translator to be present.

Clinical staff used proformas when conducting assessments of children’s needs to support the review of their wider health and wellbeing. The trust had effective systems to identify people with previously undiagnosed conditions. Staff could refer children, young people and their families to community support with social needs. For example, patients, families and carers experiencing housing difficulties.

Children, young people, parents and carers spoke positively about the service and the staff and were confident with the care they received. Children and young people received care, treatment and support that was evidence-based and in line with good practice standards.

Staff worked with national guidance and evidence-based practice to deliver treatment. Staff had access to up-to-date policies and procedures. Staff told us they felt they communicated well with children and young people to understand how best to support them with their procedures and treat them as individuals. Through our discussions with staff and leaders and review of children and young people’s records it was clear staff followed professional guidance.

There was a process for reviewing and updating best practice guidelines used within the children and young people’s service. Divisional meeting minutes demonstrated that best practice guidance had been considered and approved and there were updated procedures in place, including day surgery at Kidderminster Hospital and Treatment Centre and managing anxious children.

The service delivered evidence based care and treatment and outcomes for patients were mostly positive. For example the paediatric Diabetes audit and Getting it right First time (GIRFT) audits. readmission in an emergency.

Children, young people, their parents and carers told us they received a good level of care as part of their treatment pathway which included referral from their GP, dentist, contact with the preassessment nurses, children’s outpatients, theatre staff and staff they met on the day of their surgery. Children and young people received person-centred care, and families were supported when moving between services.

Staff said they worked together as a team to ensure children and young people received safe care and treatment. Staff held regular and effective multidisciplinary meetings to discuss children and young people and improve their care.

Partners positively identified how teams worked to deliver care to children and young people at Kidderminster Hospital and Treatment Centre. This included arrangements for paediatric staff to support day case surgery for children and young people and arrangements for children who transitioned to adult services.

Staff shared key information to keep children, young people, and their families safe when handing over their care to others. We saw children’s ward staff transferring care to theatre staff and back to the ward staff confirming their identity, operation, progress of recovery and any medicines they had received. There was oversight of the transfer of children’s care to adult services by a specialist transition team. There were established and effective pathways for transition for diabetes, respiratory, epilepsy and urology with adult and children’s teams working closely together to enable the adult team to get to know them and ensure the young person’s needs continued to be met. The team communicated with leads within the community and communicated collaboratively and effectively within multi-disciplinary teams.

Children, young people, parents and carers spoke positively about the service. One young person with a learning disability said their attendance in a smaller environment had been beneficial to their health and wellbeing.

Staff told us about the good work the transitions lead had done to make transition between children’s and adults services more straightforward. This meant patients had a better continuity of care when they moved from children to adult services. This supported children and young people’s health and wellbeing.

Staff assessed each child and young person’s health when admitted and provided support for their individual needs to live a healthier lifestyle. Children’s outpatients displayed information about healthy lifestyles including healthy eating and dental health. There were processes in place to monitor children and management of their health and wellbeing including chronic disease management including epilepsy and diabetes.

We did not collect enough information from people about their experience of monitoring and improving outcomes. However, people told us staff worked collaboratively with them when assessing, reviewing and undertaking procedures.

Staff told us they could see when patients with chronic illnesses attended regular outpatients clinics, they managed their health better.

Staff and leaders monitored children and young people's experiences and results to identify where improvement was required. The paediatric service provided information to national audits which included the National Paediatric Diabetes audit and had demonstrated care and treatment had improved. Information provided by the trust identified no audits of children and young people care and treatment for Kidderminster hospital and Treatment Centre were undertaken. The trust told us the paediatric team were working to develop quality audits for children’s clinics and were starting this commencing this by the end of December 2024.

The service monitored patient’s outcomes which included the number and reason for transfer for care and treatment at another hospital, readmissions, returns to theatre and infection rates. Information provided demonstrated positive outcomes for children and young people. The children and young people’s service National Paediatric Diabetes Audit identified there was a clinically important improvement in children’s and young people’s blood glucose control. Good blood glucose control is the key to preventing development of complications of diabetes and is likely to be influenced both by the quality of healthcare services (such as access to clinical review and patient education) and by patient factors (such as patient age and socio-economic status). People could not always access the service when they needed it. The average wait from referral to first outpatients appointment for surgery at Kidderminster Hospital and Treatment centre was 130 days. The longest waiting time was for ear nose and throat appointments (265 days). The shortest wait from referral to first outpatient appointment was for ophthalmology (32 days). The average wait from referral to admission for surgery was 299 days, the shortest wait was for trauma and orthopaedic surgery (139 days) and the longest wait was ear, nose and throat (344 days) and oral surgery (420 days). The trust provided information for the national audit for tonsillectomies performed within the trust. This audit included the day case rate (pathway recommended by the Getting it Right First Time (GIRFT) ). All tonsillectomies performed at KHTC were day cases. Services delivered in a daycase setting are usually more financially efficient than delivery in an inpatient setting. The GIRFT audit also identified emergency readmission within 30 days of a tonsillectomy as an outcome measure. The trust performance (both the acute hospital and KHTC) was higher than other similar services.

Children were provided with information about the procedure, its risk and benefits as part of the consent process. We saw information was shared with children and their parents or carers about the procedure.

Staff confirmed the arrangements to consent to procedures. Staff understood Gillick Competence and Fraser Guidelines to support children and young people who wanted to make decisions about their treatment. As part of the consent process there was discussion which included children and or parent/ carer concerns, wishes and expectations. The consultant provided all necessary information about the intended procedure, including options of non-surgery, risks, benefits, outcome/success rates, clinicians involved, recovery period, follow up.

The trust used 2 consent forms for children which were dependent on the age and understanding of the child. Children and their parents or carers were seen by a surgeon who explained the operation and risks. The consent form was signed as part of this consultation. Older children (under 16s) could if they wished to, sign to consent to the procedure alongside their parents or carer. Young people between 16 and 18 provided written consent to their surgery, with an explanation of the surgery provided including risks and benefits. The trust told us audit of consent forms were undertaken county wide and no specific consent form audit for Kidderminster Hospital and Treatment Centre. A review of consent was also undertaken as part of the safer surgery checklist.