A hospital\u2019s emergency department has been praised by the healthcare watchdog\u2019s inspectors \u2014 who noted staff\u2019s dedication to compassionate care.<\/p>\n
In March, Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors paid an unannounced visit to King\u2019s Mill Hospital, run by Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, to check on the quality of healthcare provided.<\/p>\n
They inspected the hospital\u2019s urgent and emergency care and medical care, rating both as \u2018good\u2019. The overall rating for King\u2019s Mill Hospital is also \u2018good\u2019.<\/p>\n
King\u2019s Mill Hopsital. Photo: Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust<\/p>\n
Sarah Ivory-Donnelly, CQC\u2019s deputy director of hospitals in the East Midlands, said: \u201cWhen we visited King’s Mill Hospital, we found two services where staff were working hard to deliver compassionate care, and that came through clearly in what people told us.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn urgent and emergency care, people said staff were helpful, friendly and kind, and friends and family survey results from December 2025 to February 2026 showed 82% of people were satisfied with their care.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inspectors found that emergency care staff worked well with external partners \u2014 including mental health services, community teams and the ambulance service \u2014 to make sure people\u2019s care was joined up.<\/p>\n
Staff also remained positive and felt able to cope with the pressure of seeing between 450 and 500 patients through the department a day, thanks to the support offered by leaders and colleagues.<\/p>\n
However, a waiting area with no call bells to summon help was identified. The hospital acted immediately and installed call bells the following day.<\/p>\n
Ms Ivory-Donnelly added: \u201cIt was encouraging to hear staff say they saw themselves as one big team, and we saw this reflected in their work with other departments and partners. Nursing staff turnover was just 3.6%, indicating they wanted to stay and leaders supported them well.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was also a positive culture of safety as staff thoroughly investigated incidents to identify learning opportunities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile staff weren\u2019t always able to see people quickly enough, the service was managing pressures across the healthcare system and developing services that met the changing needs of the local population. This showed leaders had the foresight to plan ahead, while implementing changes that would help improve people\u2019s experiences now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Across the hospital\u2019s wider medical care, staff were found to treat people with kindness and compassion throughout their stay. Inspectors saw staff taking time to reassure people, including those with mental health needs, and making sure difficult conversations were held sensitively and privately.<\/p>\n
They also worked well across teams to make sure people only needed to tell their story once as they moved between services.<\/p>\n
The hospital had a proactive culture of safety, with staff ensuring concerns were fully investigated and improvements identified and implemented to enhance people\u2019s experiences.<\/p>\n
However, patients were not always monitored closely enough after they received sedation medication, which put them at risk of undetected changes in breathing and heart rate.<\/p>\n
In response to this concern, a review was launched by the hospital and additional training is to be put in place.<\/p>\n
\u201cLeaders and staff at the two services should be pleased with the many positive findings in our reports,\u201d Ms Ivory-Donnelly concluded.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe identified some areas where improvements were needed and were encouraged with the plans already in place. We will continue to monitor the services and hope to see continued progress.\u201d<\/p>\n
Philip Bolton, executive chief nurse at Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs King\u2019s Mill Hospital, said: \u201cWe are delighted that the Care Quality Commission has recognised the quality of care provided by our teams with an overall \u2018Good\u2019 rating, which reflects the dedication, professionalism and compassion shown by our teams across our hospitals every day.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile recognising the challenges facing NHS services across the country right now, the report highlights our commitment to delivering safe and effective care and recognising the positive experiences of the patients, families and communities we serve.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are proud of this achievement and remain committed to continuous improvement and building on the CQC\u2019s feedback to further enhance the care and experience we provide for our patients.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A hospital\u2019s emergency department has been praised by the healthcare watchdog\u2019s inspectors \u2014 who noted staff\u2019s dedication to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":700966,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,10646,10647,10648,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-700965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-newark","tag-ollerton","tag-southwell","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=700965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/700966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}