Report on the Springfield Mental Health Hospital & Springfield Village redevelopment

What we did

Healthwatch Wandsworth has the statutory authority to visit local health or social care services, using trained Enter and View volunteers, with the main focus on the service user’s experience of care. We decided to visit Springfield with a view to getting an impression of the developing footfall and, by talking to people passing through, to gather feedback on responses to the new development and its impact on the whole range of the community, including service users, families and carers, and residents of the new homes as well as hospital staff. 

We spoke to 82 people (24 service users or carers, family, or friends of service users, 40 Trust staff, and 18 others). This was a limited survey, not a random sample, and was based on opportunistic discussions with passers-by. We asked a few, mostly open questions about what people thought of the new hospital environment, as well as questions about their journey and demographic data. We were grateful to receive a rich, thoughtful, and varied range of comments from those we spoke to. The balance of views was clearly positive, but a range of less positive and even critical points were made by some of our interviewees. We have put the various feedback we received to the Trust and summarised their responses. You can read more about what we did and how we did it in our full report.

South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust's (SWLSTG) Response

Director for the Trust’s Better Communities programme, Ian Garlington, who led the development of the new Trinity building said:  

“We are delighted that 80% of the feedback received following Healthwatch Wandsworth’s recent Enter and View session is overwhelmingly positive. We worked in real co-production over a number of years to ensure our facilities meet the needs of our patients, their families and carers, and of course our staff. We are also extremely proud of the Village we have created – a community with mental health at its heart that is reducing mental health stigma and providing more housing and green spaces for the people of south west London. 

“We would like to thank Healthwatch Wandsworth for conducting such a robust review. In terms of feedback on areas for improvement, we are actively working with colleagues and wider stakeholders to continue to make our sites work for all who visit us and use our services.”

You can read the full response from SWLSTG in the report below.