Heath Lodge

We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out an unannounced visit to Heath Lodge Clinic on 10 May 2023.

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's 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.

This is the first time we rated this service. We rated this service as good because it was safe, caring, responsive and well led. We inspect but do not rate effective in diagnostic imaging services.

• 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. Staff assessed risks to patients, acted on them and kept good care records as minimised infection risks. 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 using best evidence based practice. Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent. Staff worked well together for the benefit of patients and had access to good information.
• 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 the communities it served, took account of patients’ individual needs, and made it easy for people to give feedback. People accessed the service when they needed it and did not have to wait too long for a diagnostic procedures and reports.
• Leaders ran services well using reliable information 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. The service engaged well with patients and the community to plan and manage services and all staff were committed to improving services continually.

However:

• The service did not have formalised records for all their governance meetings. Some were not always recorded, comprehensive and/or standardised.
• Records of cleaning for ultrasound probes were not always fully completed.
• Local rules were signed by staff however, this was only done once and not when new local rules were produced or after every change.