Updated 24 May 2023
The service provided over 12,655 dialysis treatment sessions per year and had treated 48 patients at the time of the inspection.
Worcester Dialysis Unit has 20 dialysis stations that provides dialysis for patients with chronic renal failure. The unit was built in 2009 following the increased demand for dialysis in the Worcestershire area. Fresenius Medical Care Renal Services Limited (Fresenius) is contracted to complete dialysis for local patients under the care of nephrologists at a contracting NHS trust.
All patients attending Worcester Dialysis Unit receive care from a named consultant from the NHS trust, who remains responsible for the patient. Fresenius has close links with the trust to provide seamless care between the two services. To achieve this, the service has support from the NHS trust to provide medical support, satellite haemodialysis unit coordinator support, and regular contact with a dietitian. This team attend the unit regularly and assess patients in preparation for monthly quality assurance meetings.
The unit is open between 7am and 12 midnight on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday 7am to 6.30pm. It is currently providing treatment for over 90 patients. The main service provided was a dialysis service only for people over the age of 18 years of age.
Services provided via contract include:
• Domestic cleaning.
• Equipment maintenance.
The service is located away from an acute hospital site. Facilities included 20 dialysis stations (four of which were in isolation rooms), three consulting rooms, and a meeting room.
Dialysis units offer services that replicate the functions of the kidneys for patients with advanced chronic kidney disease. Dialysis is used to provide artificial replacement for lost kidney function.
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.
Throughout the inspection, we took account of what people told us and how the provider understood and complied with the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
During the inspection visit we spoke with, 7 staff members including nurses, healthcare assistance and clinical leads. We spoke with 4 patients, and we reviewed 8 patient records.
The service was last inspected in 2017 but was not rated because at that time CQC did not have the legal duties to rate the service.
During the 2017 inspection, the service was issued with 2 requirement notices. The legal requirements that were not being met during 2017 inspection were:
Regulation 13 HSCA (RA) Regulations 2014 Safeguarding service users from abuse and improper treatment. How the regulation was not being met:
- The safeguarding lead was trained to level 2 in safeguarding adults. This was not in line with national guidance, which recommends that designated safeguarding leads should be trained to level 3 in safeguarding adults.
- Not all staff had completed appropriate safeguarding training in order to protect children associated with the adults they were caring for from abuse.
Regulation 18 HSCA (RA) Regulations 2014 Staffing; How the regulation was not being met:
- Not all staff had completed the mandatory training required for their role in order to provide safe care and treatment. This included (but was not limited to), training in order to safely administer blood transfusions, practical manual handling and prevention of medicine errors training.