Staff at Withybush Hospital will undertake further training on recording patients’ medication, and nurses reminded of professional standards for medicine management, following unannounced spot checks on the hospital last summer.

Four wards on Withybush: Coronary Care, Ward 11, Ward 10 and Ward 12, were visited between 7am and 2pm on Monday June 30th as part of a series of spot checks ordered by Health Minister, Mark Drakeford.

No systemic concerns about patient care were revealed during the visit. However on three separate occasions nurses were witnessed signing for medication before the patient had taken it both on Ward 11 (acute stroke/medical/rehabilitation) and Ward 10 (oncology/haematology).

As a result the Welsh Government has asked Hywel Dda University Health Board to ensure that nurses comply with professional standards for medicine management and that staff undertake an e-learning package on the All Wales In-Patient Medication Record.

Inspectors also flagged up the lack of secure locks on the medicine storage room and intravenous fluids storage room on Ward 10 and the unsuitability of toilets and showers on the ward for frail or disabled patients.

On Ward 12 they noted the fluid balance charts were different from those used in other hospitals across the health board and that health care support workers did not undertake observations and did not write in patient care plans, as they did in other health boards. They also flagged up that patients with dementia did not have the appropriate symbol displayed above their beds.

Inspectors noted plenty of good practice across the wards, highlighting ten examples including integrated team working, a dementia champion on Ward 12, the availability of a small gym on Ward 11 and the “you say, we listen, we act, we care” philosophy on Ward 10.

This was in synch with the rest of Wales, where the independent team found examples of good and notable practice which far outweighed isolated examples where shortcomings in patient care were identified.

The spot checks, which were introduced as a response to an independent review of care at the Princess of Wales and Neath Port Talbot hospitals, will now be extended to look at the standard of care elderly patients receive on mental health wards in hospital settings.