- NHS hospital
King's College Hospital
Report from 15 January 2025 assessment
Contents
Ratings - Services for children & young people
Our view of the service
We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of services for Children and Young People on 29 and 30 April 2025 to check learning from an adverse event had been acted upon and was now embedded in daily practices. We inspected all quality statements across the five key questions: safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.
During our inspection we visited the following wards: Lion Ward, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Philip Isaacs Day Case Unit, Princess Elizabeth Ward, Rays of Sunshine Ward, Short Stay Unit, Thomas Cook Children’s Critical Care Centre, and Toni and Guy Ward. We also visited the paediatric recovery and the Children’s Outpatient Department. We spoke with over 35 members of staff including nursing and medical staff of all grades, pharmacists, healthcare assistants, play specialists, and managers. We spoke with over 30 patients and their relatives.
We rated the service as Requires Improvement. We found 3 breaches of the regulations in relation to staffing, safeguarding and governance.
Low staffing levels in parts of the service negatively affected service provision, staff wellbeing and did not always comply with national guidance. Governance systems and audits were not always effective in identifying or addressing areas for improvement. The service did not always identify, understand, and respond appropriately to the risk of abuse and neglect to children and young people. However, people were treated with kindness and compassion. Care and treatment were centred around children and young people and their needs and staff worked with all agencies involved in people’s care for the best outcomes and smooth transitions when moving between services.
We have requested an action plan, this will be requested upon publication of the final report.
People's experience of this service
We received feedback from 32 children, young people, family and carers. Patients, family and carers we spoke with were all positive about the staff treating them with warmth and kindness and providing effective care and treatment. Most parents and carers said communication with them was good. Most people we spoke with told us staff were friendly and supportive and treated them with respect. Some people told us they sometimes experienced long waits in the outpatient department and commented that some staff members were not attentive and gave examples of staff using their personal phones during interactions.
Records showed people were monitored frequently, and people told us they felt staff were on hand if they needed them for help or support.