HCA Healthcare UK London Bridge Hospital

Updated 25 September 2023

London Bridge Hospital is a private hospital operated by HCA Healthcare UK who also provide care at several other hospitals in the UK. The hospital opened in 1986 and became part of HCA in 2000. It is based in the London Bridge area in Southeast London. They offer care to adults only and provide care for privately paying patients and also support the NHS with locally commissioned contracts.

The hospital is registered to provide:

• Diagnostic and Screening Procedures
• Treatment of Disease, Disorder or Injury
• Surgical Procedures
• Management of supply of blood and blood derived products
• Family Planning

The hospital provides a range of surgery and medical care, a level 3 critical care providing care to adults and several sites providing outpatients and diagnostic imaging. The service has 191 beds in total, 20 of which are level 3 intensive care beds and 8 high dependency unit beds. This also includes 19 day case beds. They have 10 operating theatres, 2 endoscopy suites and 3 angiography suites. The hospital also has a number of consulting rooms in the London Bridge hospital main site, The Shard and at the Old Broad Street location.

The service had a registered manager who had been in place since October 2017.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we ask the same 5 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.

Updated 25 September 2023

Our rating of this location stayed the same. We rated it as outstanding 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 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 truly respected and valued patients as individuals and empowered them as partners in their care . Staff spent time providing emotional support to patients, families and carers to minimise their distress. They understood patients' personal, cultural and religious needs and this was reflected in how care was delivered. Staff took the time to support patients, families and carers to understand their condition and make decisions about their care and treatment.
• The service was delivered in a way to ensure flexibility, choice and continuity of care. The service planned care to meet the needs of the patient population and made it easy for people to give feedback. People’s individual needs and preferences were central to the delivery of the service. There was a proactive approach to understanding the needs and preferences of different groups of people and to delivering care in a way that met these needs, which was accessible and promoted equality. People could access the service when they needed it and did not have to wait too long for treatment.
• The leadership and governance were used to drive and improve the delivery of high-quality person-centred care. The service had a vision for what it wanted to achieve and a strategy to turn it into action. The vision and strategy had supporting plans and objectives which were innovative and achievable. There was an embedded system of leadership development and succession planning. Staff felt respected and valued and were focused on providing patient centred care. The service had an open culture where patients, their families and staff could raise concerns without fear. Leaders operated effective governance processes, and demonstrated commitment to best practice, performance and risk management systems and processes. They identified and escalated relevant risks and issues and identified actions to reduce their impact effectively and in a timely manner. Leaders and staff actively and openly engaged with patients and staff. All staff were committed to continually learning and improving services. Leaders encouraged innovation and participation in research. Staff were actively participating in research and improvement projects.

Updated 25 September 2023

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

See summary above.

Updated 14 August 2023

Our rating of this service stayed the same. We rated it as outstanding 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 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 7 days a week.
• Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, took account of their individual needs. Staff were kind, caring and listened to families and carers concerns. Feedback from people who used the service, and those who are close to them were continually positive about the way staff treat people. People think that staff go the extra mile and the care they receive exceeds their expectations.
• People's individual needs and preferences were central to the planning and delivery of tailored services. The services were flexible, provided choice and ensured continuity of care. People could access the service when they needed it and did not have to wait too long for treatment. There was a proactive approach to understanding the needs of different groups of people who had complex needs and to deliver care in a way that met those needs. Complaints were dealt with locally and drove improvements in the patient experience.
• There was a well established local leadership team who were visible and had a clear vision for the service. Leaders supported staff to develop their skill and staff had opportunities for professional development and advancement. 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 their families to manage services. All staff were committed to improving services continually. Governance and performance management arrangements were proactively reviewed and reflect best practice.

Updated 9 February 2017

There were effective systems in place to protect patients from harm and a good incident reporting culture. Patient records were comprehensive, with appropriate risk assessments completed. Medicines were generally stored safely and securely.

Staff used evidence based care and treatment in line with national guidelines and local policies. Staff were competent in their roles and a number of staff had completed further training and development.

Patient feedback for the services visited were consistently positive, patient satisfaction survey results were positive and patients felt supported. Confidentiality, dignity and privacy was respected by staff.

Clinics and services were developed to meet the needs of patients, including where clinics were located. Staff were aware of people’s individual needs and considered these when providing care. The department dealt with complaints and concerns promptly.

We saw excellent local leadership within the department and staff reflected this in their conversation with us. There was a positive, open and non-blame culture in the OPD and members of staff said they could raise concerns with the leadership team.

Staff said they were motivated to go the extra mile to make sure patients receive the best care and are safe. There were effective and robust governance processes and risks were proactively reviewed. There was evidence of staff and patient engagement and changes being made as a result of concerns.

The outpatients department had implemented a number of innovative services and developed these to meet patient’s needs. Staff had been encouraged to contribute to developing and improving services.

Updated 14 August 2023

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

• The service had enough staff to care for patients and keep them safe. They had training in key skills, understood how to protect patients from abuse, and managed safety well. The service managed 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 provided good care and treatment. They gave patients enough to eat and drink and gave them pain relief when needed. Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were skilled and experienced. Staff worked well together for the benefit of patients and supported them to make decisions about their care. Patients had access to good information and key services were available seven days a week.
• Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, and took account of their individual needs. Staff spent time providing emotional support to patients, families and carers to minimise their distress. They understood patients' personal, cultural and religious needs and this was reflected in how care was delivered. Staff took the time to support patients, families and carers to understand their condition and make decisions about their care and treatment. Staff empowered patients to feel confident with any new adaptations or adjustments required following surgery. Patients commented on the continuous physical and emotional support staff gave them following surgery and the encouragement from staff which helped their recovery journey.
• The service planned care to meet the needs of the patient population and made it easy for people to give feedback. People's individual needs and preferences were central to the delivery of the service. The service was delivered in a way to ensure flexibility, choice and continuity of care. There was a proactive approach to understanding the needs and preferences of different groups of people and to delivering care in a way that met these needs, which was accessible and promoted equality. People could access the service when they needed it and did not have to wait too long for treatment. The service also worked with others in the wider system and local organisations to plan care.
• The service had a vision for what it wanted to achieve and a strategy to turn it into action. The vision and strategy had supporting plans and objectives which were innovative and achievable. There was an embedded system of leadership development and succession planning. Staff felt respected and valued and were focused on providing patient centred care. The service had an open culture where patients, their families and staff could raise concerns without fear. Leaders operated effective governance processes, and a demonstrated commitment to best practice, performance and risk management systems and processes. They identified and escalated relevant risks and issues and identified actions to reduce their impact effectively and in a timely manner. Leaders and staff actively and openly engaged with patients and staff. All staff were committed to continually learning and improving services. Leaders encouraged innovation and participation in research. Staff were actively participating in research and improvement projects.