The Redwoods Centre, Holly Ward - Enter & View visit report

Report - 7 March 2018

Following the reconfiguration of wards from single to mixed sex occupancy concerns had been raised. We wanted to speak to service users to understand how sae they felt and if they felt supported by staff.

Summary

In 2015 South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (SSSFT) reconfigured their inpatient services and all wards at The Redwoods Centre in Shrewsbury became mixed sex. At that time some concerns were raised and both Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) led a visit to The Redwoods. Healthwatch Shropshire took part in this visit. SSSFT have been monitoring the situation. Despite this a number of incidents and safeguarding concerns have continued to be raised. In response to this in July 2017 the CCGs asked Healthwatch Shropshire to work with Healthwatch Telford and Wrekin to complete an Enter and View visit to The Redwoods to speak to service users and staff about their experiences of a mixed sex ward. It was decided that we would visit Birch Ward, an adult acute ‘step-down’ ward, and Holly Ward, for older adults.

Key Findings

Our overall impression was that service users benefited greatly from there being a strong professional staff team that worked well in a person-centred way.
Service users on the whole appreciated being on the ward and had few concerns.
The service users we spoke to felt safe and secure on the ward.
None of the service users we spoke to mentioned that the ward was mixed sex.
The ward had a warm, caring and calm atmosphere.