English Institute of Sport - Lilleshall

Updated 1 March 2023

The English Institute of Sport – Lilleshall is part of a wider organisation, The English Institute of Sport Limited, and provides care and treatment to elite athletes across 6 registered locations. The provider is a government funded organisation that provides services that have been purchased by National Governing Bodies for named athletes.

The English Institute of Sport - Lilleshall operates from Lilleshall National Sports Centre, Newport, Shropshire, TF10 9LQ. They provide a range of performance sport science and sport medicine services to Olympic and Paralympic adult athletes and children over the age of 10 who receive funding from UK Sport. Consultations are provided for both sports injury and illness to athletes from a range of disciplines which includes British Gymnastics and Archery GB.

There are accessible facilities provided and free on-site parking. Facilities used on site by The English Institute of Sport include a main office, boardroom, consulting room, gym, physio treatment area, athlete lounge and a recovery room.

The team includes an operation manager supported by an operational director, 1 senior sports physician/British Gymnastics Chief Medical Officer, and a range of administrative and performance support staff associated with gymnastics and archery sports.

The opening times are Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm and is closed weekends and bank holidays. Multi-sport clinics are held on a Tuesday between 10am and 2pm and on a Friday between 10am and 5pm.

The provider has a website at www.eis2win.co.uk

How we inspected this service

Throughout the pandemic CQC has continued to regulate and respond to risk. However, taking into account the circumstances arising as a result of the pandemic and in order to reduce risk, we have conducted our inspections differently.

This included:

• Requesting a provider information return and additional evidence from the provider prior to and post our site visit.
• A short provider presentation.
• Conducting staff interviews remotely using video conferencing and discussions during the site visit.
• A site visit undertaken on 9 February 2023 which included a tour of the premises, a review of clinical records, observations and a review of key documents which support the governance and delivery of the service.

To get to the heart of athletes’ experiences of care and treatment, we always ask the following 5 questions:

• Is it safe?
• Is it effective?
• Is it caring?
• Is it responsive to people’s needs?
• Is it well-led?

These questions therefore formed the framework for the areas we looked at during the inspection.

Updated 1 March 2023

This service is rated as Good overall. The service has not previously been inspected.

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The English Institute of Sport – Lilleshall on 9 February 2023 as part of our inspection programme. The location had not previously been inspected or rated.

This service is registered with Care Quality Commission (CQC) under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 in respect of some, but not all, of the services it provides. There are some exemptions from regulation by CQC which relate to particular types of regulated activities and services and these are set out in Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

The Director of Clinical Governance, Dr Anita Biswas, is the registered manager. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the CQC to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

The location is registered with CQC to carry out diagnostic and screening regulated activities. The services provided at this location which are not in scope include physiotherapy and psychology.

Four athletes provided feedback about the service via our Give Feedback on Care form via our website. Feedback from all 4 athletes was very positive. The names of specific staff were shared by 1 athlete for having such a positive impact and for taking every opportunity for ensuring they were in the best position they could be in when rehabilitating. Another athlete told us the team had been lifesaving during their career. One athlete told us EIS-Lilleshall was a fantastic facility with fantastic staff and every time they had accessed the service, they had a clear programme to regain their full fitness.

Our key findings were:

• There were systems and processes in place to safeguard athletes from abuse. However, not all staff had completed the required level of safeguarding children training.
• The service had systems in place to identify, investigate and learn from incidents.
• Athletes received effective care and treatment that met their needs within an appropriate timescale.
• Athletes received clear information about their proposed treatment which enabled them to make informed decisions.
• The service ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence-based guidelines and current best practice.
• The premises were safe, clean and suitable for the provision of care provided.
• The service had some systems in place to review the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care and treatment it provided.
• Systems, processes and records had been established to seek consent and to offer coordinated and athlete-centred care.
• Clinical staff were registered with the appropriate governing body and there was a system in place to ensure they were up to date with revalidation.
• Staff enjoyed working at the service and were supported to maintain the necessary skills and competence to support athletes’ needs.
• Athletes were treated with compassion, kindness, dignity, respect and seen as individuals.
• The provider and staff team demonstrated a positive culture and a commitment to the delivery of athlete-centred care and treatment and continuous learning and improvement.
• The provider had a clear vision and strategy and culture that put athletes at the centre of their care.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Make all staff aware of the designated safeguarding lead and ensure that they have received the required level of safeguarding training appropriate to their role.
• Obtain assurances from the landlord that recommendations made in the fire and legionella risk assessments have been actioned and completed.
• Review staff essential training requirements to include infection prevention control and learning disability and autism for all staff and training in the mental capacity act (MCA) for clinical staff.
• Consider developing a formalised system to capture feedback from athletes to improve services.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Hospitals and Interim Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services