Nuffield Health Plymouth Hospital

Updated 19 July 2022

The service was last inspected in July 2015 when the service was rated requires improvement overall.

The main service provided by this hospital was surgery. 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 service.

The hospital has a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered person. 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 service is registered to provide the following regulated activities:

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

Updated 19 July 2022

Nuffield Health Plymouth Hospital is a large independent acute hospital part of the Nuffield Health group. The service provides care for patients in the South West of England.

The hospital provides surgical, outpatients and diagnostic services, and services for children and young people.

At our unannounced inspection in May 2022, we inspected and rated surgery and children and young people services.

Our overall rating for Nuffield Health Plymouth improved from requires improvement to good. We rated it as good because:

• Surgery – the rating improved from requires improvement to outstanding.
• Children and young people’s services – the rating improved from requires improvement to good.

Updated 19 July 2022

Our rating of this service improved. 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. Staff assessed risks to children and young people, acted on them and kept good care records. The service managed safety incidents well and learned lessons from them.
• 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.
• Staff treated children and young people 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 children and young people, families and carers.
• 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.
• 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.

However:

• There was not a separate waiting area for children and young people in the outpatients waiting room, which meant children and young people shared this space with adult patients.

Children and young people’s services were a small proportion of hospital activity. 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, responsive, and well led.

Updated 4 November 2015

We found the outpatients and diagnostic imaging service at this hospital to be well run with safe practices.

Audit programmes were in place to monitor safety of care provided to patients. There were sufficient trained staff numbers for the needs of patients in the department. Patients were seen promptly and felt informed of any procedures and plans for their health care

There was a culture of learning and openness within both radiology and outpatients departments.

Patients were able to contribute their comments about their care and the facilities in the hospital.

Staff were able to contribute to their thoughts and ideas about the hospital environment and the care they deliver by attending regularly held forums. Diagnostic imaging had devised a survey for patients to feed back their thoughts about the service. The hospital had processes to ensure staff maintained their competencies in order to practice safely which included confirmation that consultants met the requirements for practising privileges.

Staff were aware of complaints and incident reporting procedures and were confident in their abilities to deal with any complaint. Apologies were offered to patients who complained and they were responded to in a timely way. They felt part of a team, proud to work at the hospital and able to instigate changes if a need was identified. Staff felt listened to and care for by the hospital and were positive about the appraisal process in supporting them professionally. They were able to access training to maintain and develop their skills

Updated 19 July 2022

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

• Staff were actively engaged in activities to monitor and improve quality and outcomes of care and treatment. They used the findings to make improvements and achieved good outcomes for patients. Staff were consistent in supporting patients live healthier lives through targeted and proactive approaches. Managers made sure staff were competent and staff worked well together.
• Staff empowered patients as partners in their care. 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 had enough staff to care for patients and keep them safe. Staff had updated their 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.
• 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.

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