Enter and View: Milton Keynes University Hospital

The purpose of this Enter and View visit was to understand how well the hospital takes account of patients’ pre-existing health conditions and additional needs during their stay, and how this affects their overall care experience.

Summary

We visited eight wards in total, speaking with patients and their family members where appropriate. In addition, we spent time in the hospital restaurant talking with family members, visitors and staff about their experiences on the wards. In total, we spoke to 54 patients and their family and friends. Overall, 68% (37) had pre-existing health conditions that were not necessarily the reason for this admission.

What we found

Common themes:

• Staff kindness and commitment
• Perceived staff shortages and workload pressures
• Impact of staffing on personal care and dignity
• Communication challenges
• Medication management and understanding
• Environment, maintenance, and ward conditions
• Signage, visibility of information, and consistency
• Boredom, isolation, and lack of stimulation
• Challenges for people living with dementia
• Temperature, lighting, and comfort
• Visitor access and facilities

Voices from the Wards 

“I couldn’t speak highly enough about their treatment of [my son]."

“Staff get top marks — very good.”

“I’m very comfortable and staff are friendly and nice.”

“Most people don’t talk to me, they talk to my Mum or Dad, it would be nice if they talked to me more.”

“It’s far too hot on the ward.”

"Great treatment, staff absolutely brilliant."

“They do a really good job here, great hospital.”
 

Our recommendations include:

• Improve communication and information sharing, including introduce more consistent daily updates for patients and families, particularly for those with longer stays or complex needs.
• Standardise bedside information and signage: Implement a consistent hospital-wide approach to bedside whiteboards and patient information.
• Address boredom, isolation, and wellbeing on Ward.
• Improve medication safety and clarity.
• Build on staff strengths, including recognise and celebrate the compassion and commitment consistently shown by staff.
• Improve the physical environment.

Examples of best practice

Ward 3 has emojis/picture symbols at the bedsides, clear information of patient needs, staff of all disciplines were aware of meanings. If this were made a hospital-wide protocol, all staff would be transferable, no additional training, no confusion, and bank staff would have the same process on all wards.

The response

We would like to thank Milton Keynes University Hospital for their thorough response. They have engaged with the Enter and View process in a thoughtful, constructive way. They have also taken our recommendations on board, and are implementing improvements, including: 

• Implementing structured daily updates for patients and families during ward board rounds, including predicted discharge dates.
• Trust-wide patient bed boards have been commissioned and will be implemented by March 2026.
• Auditing day rooms and wards to ensure access to TVs and activity resources, with findings integrated into audits.
• Working with Estates on refurbishment programmes for wards (2B, 3, and 17, with business cases already approved).