The Highfield Hospital

Updated 8 August 2022

The Highfield Hospital is operated by Circle Health Group Limited. It offers elective surgical services as well as outpatients and diagnostic imaging. At this inspection we inspected surgical services.

Surgical services are carried out from a pre-assessment unit, four operating theatres, a post-anaesthesia care unit, and two inpatient wards. The hospital has a physiotherapy gym. The hospital has 43 beds and three ambulatory pods with a total of 12 ambulatory chairs. Four of three theatres have laminar flow.

Clinical specialties include orthopaedics, hip and knee, ear, nose, and throat, and spine.

The hospital primarily serves the communities of the Rochdale area. It also accepts patient referrals from outside this area. Up to 75% of surgical patients are cared for on behalf of the NHS.

The hospital has had the current registered manager in post since 2020 and is registered to provide the following regulated activities:

• Diagnostic and screening procedures
• Surgical procedures
• Treatment of disease, disorder, or injury
• Family planning

We last inspected surgery services at The Highfield Hospital in July 2019. At that inspection we rated the service as good overall and good in each domain.

We rated this service as outstanding because it was safe, effective, caring, responsive, and well led with several areas of innovation.

Updated 8 August 2022

We inspected only the surgery core service. We rated it outstanding overall. In the light of this, we decided to change the ratings for the hospital overall to reflect the improved performance of the surgery service.

Please see the Surgery section for more information about that service.

For more information about this hospital, including ratings for all its services, see our website: cqc.org.uk/location/1-128766862

Updated 23 September 2019

Diagnostic imaging services were available to

consultants with practising privileges who were

authorised as referrers.

We rated the service as requires improvement overall. We rated safe and caring as good. We rated responsive and well led as requires improvement.

We inspected but did not rate effective.

Updated 23 September 2019

Outpatient services were available for consultants

with practising privileges to refer patients.

We rated this service as good because it was safe, caring, responsive and well led.

We inspected but did not rate effective.

Updated 8 August 2022

Our rating of this location improved. We rated it as outstanding because:

• The service had enough staff to care for patients and keep them safe. Staff had training in key skills, understood how to protect patients from abuse, and managed safety well. The service controlled infection risk well. Staff assessed risks to patients, acted on them and kept good care records. They managed medicines well. The service managed safety incidents well and learned lessons from them.
• Staff provided good care and treatment, gave patients enough to eat and drink, and gave them pain relief when they needed it.
• Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service through a programme of continual, ambitious auditing and benchmarking. They made sure staff were competent by providing an extensive programme of continual professional development.
• Staff worked well together for the benefit of patients and used a wide range of multidisciplinary opportunities to explore opportunities for improved care. Staff advised patients on how to lead healthier lives, supported them to make decisions about their care, and had access to good information. Key services were available seven days a week and staff sought an expansion of some services where this would improve patient outcomes.
• Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, took account of their individual needs, and helped them understand their conditions. They provided emotional support to patients, families and carers and adapted care delivery based on individual needs.
• The service planned care to meet the needs of people, took account of patients’ individual needs, and made it easy for people to give feedback. The service aimed to reduce waiting times for NHS patients and prioritised those who had already exceeded national maximum waiting times.
• Leaders ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills through a programme of engagement. Staff understood the service’s vision and values, applied them in their work, and used provider standards to challenge the status quo. Staff felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on the needs of patients receiving care and creating a working environment that promoted innovation and development. Staff were clear about their roles and accountabilities. The service engaged meaningfully with patients and the community to plan and manage services and all staff were committed to improving services through research and exploration of new evidence-based practice.

However:

• Staff supervisions in some areas were not consistently carried out.