Parkside Hospital

Updated 30 November 2021

We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out the unannounced part of the inspection on 20 September 2021.

During the inspection, we visited the operating theatres and recovery areas on both floors and the surgical wards. We spoke with 13 staff including registered nurses, health care assistants, operating department practitioners, medical staff and senior managers. We spoke with three patients and reviewed 10 sets of patient records.

You can find information about how we carry out our inspections on our website: https://www.cqc.org.uk/what-we-do/how-we-do-our-job/what-we-do-inspection.

Updated 30 November 2021

Parkside Hospital has been providing healthcare for 33 years and is part of Aspen Healthcare Limited. A team of nurses, healthcare assistants and administrative staff were responsible for coordinating the delivery of outpatient clinics. Clinics are led by surgeons, doctors, nurses and allied health professionals (AHP). The hospital has 75 beds. Facilities include operating theatres, a five-bedded high dependency unit (critical care unit), an X-ray department, endoscopy unit, outpatient and diagnostic facilities.

We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out the unannounced inspection of the service on 20 September 2021. To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we ask the same five questions of all services: are they safe, effective, caring, responsive to people' needs, and well-led? Where we have a legal duty to do so, we rate services’ performance against each key question as outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate. Throughout the inspection, we took account of what people told us and how the provider understood and complied with the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

The Hospital mainly provides privately funded treatments, but also undertakes some work for the NHS. Most of the hospital patients live in and around the South West London area. The Hospital offers a range of surgical procedures, including orthopaedics, uro-gynaecology and plastics. It also offers cancer care, diagnostic and imaging and a physiotherapy service in its own dedicated and fully equipped physiotherapy suite and hydrotherapy pool. Children and young people are treated at the hospital, but only those above aged three are admitted. Patients are admitted for elective surgery, day case or receive outpatient care. There are no urgent admissions.

The main service provided by this hospital was surgery. Where our findings on surgery, for example, management arrangements also apply to other services, we do not repeat the information but cross refer to the surgery report of the service.

Updated 30 November 2021

Our rating of medical care stayed the same. We rated it as good 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 collected safety information and used it to improve the service.
• 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 and made sure staff were competent. Key services were available seven days a week.
• 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.
• The service planned care to meet the needs of local people, took account of patients’ individual needs, and made it easy for people to give feedback. People could access the service when they needed it and did not have to wait too long for treatment.
• Leaders ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills. Staff understood the service’s vision and values, and how to apply them in their work. Staff felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on the needs of patients receiving care. Staff were clear about their roles and accountabilities. The service engaged well with patients and the community to plan and manage services and all staff were committed to improving services continually.

Updated 30 November 2021

Our rating of this service stayed the same. We rated it as good because:

• The service had enough staff to care for children and young people and keep them safe. Staff had training in key skills, understood how to protect children and young people from abuse, and managed safety well. The service controlled infection risk well. Staff assessed risks to children and young people, acted on them and kept good care records. They managed medicines well. The service managed safety incidents well and learned lessons from them. Staff collected safety information and used it to improve the service.
• Staff provided good care and treatment, gave children and young people enough to eat and drink, and gave them pain relief when they needed it. Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent. Staff worked well together for the benefit of children and young people, advised them and their families 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.
• The service planned care to meet the needs of local people, took account of children and young people’s individual needs, and made it easy for people to give feedback. People could access the service when they needed it and did not have to wait too long for treatment.
• Leaders ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills. Staff understood the service’s vision and values, and how to apply them in their work. Staff felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on the needs of children and young people receiving care. Staff were clear about their roles and accountabilities. The service engaged well with children, young people and the community to plan and manage services and all staff were committed to improving services continually.

Updated 30 November 2021

The hospital had a small, specialised ward which they called the High Dependency Unit (HDU). During our inspection we determined and agreed with the hospital’s senior management the ceiling of care did not reach that of a level 2 HDU. The ward was providing a level of enhanced ward care, such as one to one nursing, for those patients requiring it. This report is written on this basis.

Our rating of this service stayed the same. We rated it as good 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.
• The service planned care to meet the needs of local people, took account of patients’ individual needs, and made it easy for people to give feedback. People could access the service when they needed it and did not have to wait too long for treatment.
• 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 and made sure staff were competent. Key services were available seven days a week.
• 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.
• Leaders ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills. Staff understood the service’s vision and values, and how to apply them in their work. Staff felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on the needs of patients receiving care. Staff were clear about their roles and accountabilities. The service engaged well with patients and the community to plan and manage services and all staff were committed to improving services continually.

Updated 26 March 2020

Diagnostic imaging services was one of the key clinical services at the hospital.  The main service was surgery. Where arrangements were the same, we have reported findings in the surgery section.

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

Updated 30 November 2021

The outpatients department is located in a dedicated building on the site of the main hospital. The service has 33 rooms, comprising consulting rooms, treatment rooms and phlebotomy rooms. Two treatment rooms are equipped for gynaecology treatment. The service has an ear, nose, and throat room, an audiology booth, an ophthalmology room, a plaster room and a naso-gastric endoscopy service. The service offers minor procedures including plastics, dermatology, and cardiac monitoring. The physiotherapy outpatients department is located on site, a short walk away. Radiology services are offered in the same building.

The outpatients department is typically open six days per week from 8am to 8.30pm.

Between January 2021 and August 2021, 57,324 patients were seen in the department and there were 1047 GP visits.

The outpatients department is a small proportion of the hospital activities. The main service provided was surgery. Where arrangements were the same, we have reported the findings in the surgery section.

Our rating of this service stayed the same. We rated it as good 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 collected safety information and used it to improve the service.
• Staff provided excellent care and treatment, delivered by highly trained, professional staff who received specialist development. Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent. Staff worked well together for the benefit of patients, advised them on how to lead healthier lives, supported them to make decisions about their care, and had access to good information. Key services were available flexibly and at short notice.
• 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. The service constantly asked people for feedback, which was persistently and overwhelmingly positive and exceeded the provider’s expected standards. Such standards were furthered by the team’s internal audit system and care ethos that focused on patient centred, compassionate care.
• 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. People could access the service when they needed it and did not have to wait too long for treatment. The complementary range of clinical specialties available made many care pathways available on a ‘one-stop’ basis. Physiotherapy services focused unwaveringly on improving quality of life and patient mobility through a constant drive for excellence.
• Leaders ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills. Staff understood the service’s vision and values and applied them effectively and innovatively in their work. Staff felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on the needs of patients receiving care. Staff were clear about their roles and accountabilities. The service engaged well with patients and the community to plan and manage services and all staff were committed to improving services continually.

Updated 30 November 2021

Our rating of this service stayed the same. We rated it as good 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 risks 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 collected safety information and used it to improve the service.
• 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 and made sure staff were competent. Staff worked well together for the benefit of patients, advised them 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.
• 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.
• The service planned care to meet the needs of local people, took account of patients’ individual needs, and made it easy for people to give feedback. People could access the service when they needed it and did not have to wait too long for treatment.
• Leaders ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills. Staff understood the service’s vision and values, and how to apply them in their work. Staff felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on the needs of patients receiving care. Staff were clear about their roles and accountabilities. The service engaged well with patients and the community to plan and manage services and all staff were committed to improving services continually.

However:

• Patient temperatures were not consistently documented intra-operatively every 30 minutes in line with NICE guideline CG65: Hypothermia prevention and management in adults having surgery.
• Junior doctors’ workload was not consistent with their role and support from consultants was not structured and managed.
• The staff changing room in the theatre was congested with minimal space to allow adequate cleaning of the room.