Archived: Transform Hospital Group Leeds

This service is rated as Good overall.

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Transform Hospital Group Leeds on 20 May 2022. This was as part of our inspection programme; the service had not previously been inspected or rated.

The provider Transform Hospital Group Limited operates from eleven clinics, and two independent hospitals across England. Normally patients choose from one of the two hospitals where they would like to undergo any surgical procedure linked to their treatment. As part of this model of care the Transform Hospital Group Leeds clinic provides a range of services including pre- and post-operative care to cosmetic and bariatric surgery patients in an out-patient setting, as well as other weight management and aesthetic services.

This service is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 in respect of some, but not all, of the services it provides. There are some exemptions from regulation by CQC which relate to particular types of regulated activities and services and these are set out in Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. Transform Hospital Group Leeds provides a range of non-surgical cosmetic interventions, for example lip fillers and facial peels which are not within CQC scope of registration. Therefore, we did not inspect or report on these services.

How we inspected this service

Throughout the pandemic CQC has continued to regulate and respond to risk. However, considering the circumstances arising as a result of the pandemic, and in order to reduce risk, we have conducted our inspections differently.

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site. This was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements.

During our inspection we:

• Looked at the systems in place relating to safety and governance of the service.

• Viewed key policies and procedures.

• Reviewed clinical records.

• Interviewed the service manager both by telephone and face to face.

• Spoke with staff and received written questionnaires from them.

• Spoke with a patient who had used the service and reviewed patient feedback information.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we asked the following questions:

• Is it safe?
• Is it effective?
• Is it caring?
• Is it responsive?
• Is it well-led?

These questions formed the framework for the areas we looked at during the inspection.

Our key findings were:

• The service provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• There were systems in place to review and investigate events and incidents when things went wrong or did not meet the required standards. Lessons learned were shared and the provider identified themes and took action to improve quality and safety.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• Staff dealt with patients with respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• The provider had adjusted how it delivered care and treatment to ensure that national guidance was adhered to during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Patients were able to access care and treatment in a timely way.
• Quality checks and audits led to improvements in services and patient outcomes.
• Patient consent to care and treatment was obtained and recorded in line with national guidance and best practice.
• Management and governance systems in place promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care. There were effective performance management and oversight processes in place, and we saw that action had been taken to improve performance and service standards when issues had been identified.
• Patient satisfaction with services provided was generally positive.
• The provider had put in place measures that ensured good staff communication. This included regular meetings and a weekly newsletter.

Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:

• Provide safeguarding training at an appropriate level in line with national guidance for nursing staff.
• Review and improve the completion of post-operative assessment notes on a consistent basis.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care