Our adult inpatient services are rated highly by people we’ve cared for

Published: 9 September 2025

People who use our adult inpatient services have once again spoken highly about the kind and compassionate care they have received.

Their experiences have been published by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) today, Tuesday, 09 September in its adult inpatient survey results.

The results of the national survey involved 131 NHS acute and specialist trusts across the country and provide an insight into the views of the 527 people who shared their experiences of our services with the CQC.

Our results are broadly in line with most trusts across the UK.

People have continued to say that they are treated with respect and dignity, and we scored very highly in areas including kindness and compassion and the quality of the care and treatment they received (which has remained unchanged since 2023). People also said they were given enough privacy when examined or treated.

They also say they are given enough to drink and eat during their hospital stay, which has been a significant area of improvement during the past few years, led by our dieticians and nutritionists who have worked with teams across our acute and community services to ensure everyone understands the importance of keeping people hydrated and well-fed during their hospital stay to aid their recovery. While light-hearted and fun, events such as the recent ward dressing competitions, and food and drink parties during nutrition and hydration week have really helped to embed this culture across our organisation.

People also said they trusted and had confidence in the doctors and nurses who cared for them, they were included in conversations and decisions about their care, and we did everything to help control their pain.

The hard work of our cleaners was also recognised with a consistently high rating of the cleanliness of hospital rooms and wards.

There are some areas where we are performing lower than expected, for example, a notable decline in the temperature of our rooms, and work is now underway to understand the results, and what we can do to continue to improve in all areas to ensure everyone has a positive experience of both receiving care and providing it.

Deputy Chief Nurse Natalie Herring, who is our lead for patient experience will work closely alongside colleagues to create an action plan, which will be shared with our feedback and engagement team and Board this autumn.

Chief Nurse Nicola McMinn said: “These results once again reflect that our high standards of care and patient experience are recognised by people who use our services. I am so pleased that for the third year in a row people have told us that they felt the care they received was compassionate and kind, and they trusted the advice of those who are involved in their care; this is something we should all feel incredibly proud of.

“I would like to thank everyone for continuing to work so hard to ensure we keep our promise of delivering better care for people in Torbay and South Devon.”