St Peter’s Hospital has seen an improvement in patient care since introducing hourly ward rounds last year.

The Prime Minister this month ordered nursing staff to undertake the rounds, but St Peter’s introduced the system on all wards last year.

Matron Justine Hillier said, under a scheme called Care Rounding, nursing staff visited every patient on their ward once an hour, between 7am and 10pm.

They checked patients were comfortable, had enough to eat, were not in pain and whether they needed the toilet.

Mrs Hillier said: “It’s not rocket science, but by doing this in a concerted and organised way we are not only improving basic care, we are also helping our nurses work more effectively, pre-empting what our patients need which also means the call bells are ringing less.

“Our nurses find they are getting to know their patients more quickly and our patients are certainly more assured that they will be well looked after.”

Chief nurse Suzanne Rankin said: “Improving the care we give patients is one of our top priorities and there is no doubt care rounding is making a big difference on our wards.

“Proactively managing patients this way has helped to significantly reduce the number of falls our patients experience here, particularly among our older patients, as they no longer need to get out of bed on their own to get things, or go to the bathroom and so on.

“Of course there is always room for improvement and we must never stand still, but some of these most essential elements of care are now firmly back on the agenda and giving real results.”