Princess Royal Hospital Children's Unit - Enter and View Visit Report

Report - 23 April 2014

We were invited to visit the Children's ward to make observations through the eyes of potential users.

Summary

The new Children's Unit which has been commissioned at the Princess Royal Hospital is due to become fully operational in September 2014 and will amalgamate both Shrewsbury and Telford hospitals into a large Specialist Children's Unit. This will necessitate the relocation of staff from Shropshire into one unified service. It is planned to move some children into the new unit at the end of May and a request was made by the hospital Authorities to invite Healthwatch to visit the Children's ward to make observations through the eyes of potential users (parents and relatives)

Key Findings

We were informed that plans are in place to induct all staff into the unit and orientation training will be provided for all staff transferring from Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. This will be required to ensure streamlining of procedures and to allow for staff team building and a smooth transition of the service.

We concluded our visit by thanking the senior staff for the support they had given us. They in turn stated that they welcomed Healthwatch involvement and hope we could undertake a follow up visit after September. We stated that we would relate this request back to our Team Manager.