The Private Clinic Birmingham

Updated 23 April 2020

The Private Clinic Ltd - Birmingham is operated by The Private Clinic of Harley street Limited. . The hospital/service opened in 2009. It is a private clinic based in Edgbaston, Birmingham. The clinic primarily serves the communities of the West Midlands area. It also accepts patient referrals from outside this area. Clients who require more complex procedures or require general anaesthetic are treated at the provider’s facility in London or are referred to other facilities in the local area.

The clinic’s current registered manager has been in post since 2018.

Updated 23 April 2020

The Private Clinic Ltd - Birmingham is operated by The Private Clinic of Harley street Limited. Facilities include an operating theatre/procedure room, two consultation rooms, one nurse consultation room and a one-bed recovery area.

The service provides cosmetic surgery for adults aged over 18 years. The main cosmetic services provided was Vaser liposuction, endovenous laser ablation (EVLA) (removal of varicose veins with sclerotherapy and hair transplantation.

We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out the announced part of the inspection on 19 February 2020.

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.

Our previous inspection carried out in September 2016 was not rated because at the time of that inspection we did not have a legal duty to rate cosmetic surgery.

We rated it as Good overall.

We found areas of good practice;

• All staff considered safety as a priority and contributed to the overall safety ethos within the service. Comprehensive and rigorous safety checks and monitoring procedures were carried out throughout the patient’s journey and were integral to clinic activities.
• There were comprehensive audits and performance monitoring measures in place. Performance was shared with staff.
• All staff attended safeguarding training. Mandatory training was up to date for all staff.
• There was an infection prevention and control lead who conducted monthly audits and spot checks.
• There was a system for recording and reporting incidents. All staff were aware of how to access and use this.
• There was a leadership and managerial structure with clear responsibilities, roles and accountability to support good governance.
• There was a development programme available to staff. All staff were encouraged to attend leadership development and other non-clinical development courses as well as enhancing their clinical skills and developing new ones. All development courses, conferences and other events were fully funded by The Private Clinic of Harley Street Ltd.
• There was a clear vision and strategy which had been developed in collaboration with staff, and people using the service.
• The provider acted promptly on any feedback in order to improve quality and patient satisfaction. We noted that since our last inspection in 2017, leaders had made a number of changes and improvements to address the areas for improvement, and these had been sustained and embedded into everyday practice.
• Follow up care was provided and seen as an equally important part of the patient’s journey. Access to advice from a clinic nurse or surgeon was available 24 hours/day for patients immediately following a procedure.

• Staff and managers worked especially hard to make the patient experience as pleasant as possible. Staff recognised and responded to the holistic needs of their patients from the first appointment to checks on their wellbeing after they were discharged from the hospital.
• All staff had attended clinical skills updates and training appropriate to their role and were encouraged to develop additional skills to enhance the patient’s experience. The provider had invested in staff financially and funded all training and development.
• There were robust and comprehensive infection prevention and control (IPC) measures and monitoring in place which all staff respected and adhered to.
• There was an ethos of putting the patient first, all of the time. Patients who may not benefit from a procedure fully were discouraged from proceeding and were offered less invasive, less costly alternatives or were referred to other services.
• There was a robust and comprehensive pre-assessment process using a nationally recognised scoring tool and guidelines. A number of risk assessments were used including patient health questionnaires.

We also found areas of outstanding practice;

• There was a strong, visible person centred culture. Staff are highly motivated and inspired to offer care that is kind and promotes people’s dignity. Relationships between people who use the service, those close to them and staff are strong, caring, respectful and supportive. These relationships were highly valued by staff and promoted by leaders.
• Staff were alert and vigilant in identifying potential issues with body dysmorphia and acted appropriately and in the patient’s best interest.
• Staff working at the clinic experienced high levels of personal and professional support and engagement with leaders at the location and described the culture as empowering and contributed to high standards of patient care and satisfaction.

• Staff and managers worked especially hard to resolve complaints and ensure that patients were completely satisfied after their procedure. This included fully funded follow up treatment at another centre if required. Travel and accommodation costs were also fully met

• The service had an equality, diversity and inclusion strategy and had recently set up a committee and equality champions at each location to support and promote the strategy.
• There was a development programme available to staff and all were encouraged to attend leadership development and other non-clinical development as well as enhancing their clinical skills and developing new ones. All development courses, conferences and other events were fully funded by The Private Clinic of Harley Street Ltd.

Heidi Smoult.

Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Central Region. 

Updated 23 April 2020

Surgery was the main activity of the service.

We rated this service as good because we identified areas of good practice in the safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led domains.