Genesis Care, Elstree

Updated 11 November 2021

GenesisCare Elstree is an independent provider of cancer services to people across Hertfordshire and the surrounding region, as part of a network of 14 Centres across the UK. The service operates five days per week, Monday to Friday from 8am till 4.30pm.

The Centre is a purpose built, two storey facility shared between GenesisCare and another independent health provider. The entrance and some facilities were shared between the two organisations.

The Elstree Centre predominantly provides advanced radiotherapy to private patients including:

• Volumetric modulated arc therapy
• Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy
• Image-guided radiotherapy
• Surface-guided radiotherapy
• Deep inspiration breath hold

Different types of radiotherapy were offered depending on patient needs, alongside advanced techniques for precision targeting.

In addition to advanced radiotherapy, the service also offered holistic therapies to support physical and emotional wellbeing, and were provided to anyone receiving chemotherapy or radiotherapy as a patient of GenesisCare.

Chemotherapy was provided within their partner hospitals. Another independent provider had occupation of dedicated space within the first floor of the building providing chemotherapy services within their own management and control.

The Centre had a registered manager in post and is registered to provide the following regulated activities:

• Diagnostic and screening procedures
• Treatment of disease, disorder or injury

GenesisCare Elstree was registered in 2011 and was last inspected but not rated in 2014. We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out an unannounced inspection on 21 September 2021. To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care, we ask the same five questions of all services: are they safe, effective, caring, responsive to people’s needs, and well led.

The main service provided by the Centre was cancer care. We inspected and reported all cancer care services under the CQC Cancer Assessment Framework.

Updated 11 November 2021

This was the first rated inspection for GenesisCare Elstree. We rated it as good 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 collected safety information and used it to improve the service.
• 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 five days a week.
• 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 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.

However:

• The local rules displayed in the radiotherapy area were past their review date. However, staff told us these were recently reviewed and required printing. We checked the new rules against the rules displayed and there were no changes to note. Following our inspection, we received assurances that the updated local rules had been printed and displayed in the linear accelerator control area.
• We asked staff to locate the policy in relation to escalation of deteriorating patients. Although a policy was in place, this took a while to find. The service rarely experienced patients deteriorating; however, staff need to be aware of steps to take if this was to happen. Following our inspection, we received assurances that the policy had been read by all staff in the Centre.
• The majority of policies and clinical guidelines were in date and there was good oversight of policies and guidelines which required a review. However, we found two policies that were past their review date, including the complaints policy which was due for review in July 2021, and the Mental Capacity/Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards policy which was due for review in August 2020. Staff told us these were currently under review and would be published by October 2021.

Updated 11 November 2021

This is the first time we have rated this service. We rated it as good overall.

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

Please refer to overall summary above.