The Belvedere Private Hospital in Knee Hill, south east London, has been rated Inadequate following a recent inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
The hospital, which is operated by Pemberdeen Laser Cosmetic Surgery Limited, provides cosmetic and plastic surgery. It has one operating theatre, eight beds and three consulting rooms.
CQC inspectors carried out a focused inspection of the hospital in September and October in response to concerns raised about the service by former patients.
CQC’s Head of Hospital Inspection, Nicola Wise, said:
“We found several areas of concern which impacted on the safety of people using the service at the Belvedere Private Hospital. Of particular note was the fact that the service did not manage patient safety incidents well. There was a lack of evidence that serious incidents had been fully investigated or were following any guidance on how to investigate them.
“Furthermore, some staff were unable to demonstrate how they would identify patients at risk of deterioration and act upon this, and there was insufficient guidance available to support staff to care for critically unwell patients.
“We will continue to monitor the hospital closely and if we do not see evidence of improvement, we will not hesitate to take to take appropriate action on behalf of the people who use the services.”
At the time of the inspection, the hospital did not have a registered manager and the service did not have a systematic approach to improving service quality and safeguarding high standards of care. Leaders did not ensure that staff were competent for their roles or appraise staff performance and there was no support and development offered.
CQC has now set out several areas for improvement for the service. These include:
- Risk and incident management systems and processes must be developed; risks to patients need to be identified, assessed, mitigated and monitored and staff must be made aware of their responsibilities relating to risk
- Pre-employment checks must be carried out before hiring staff and clear staff records kept
- Training requirements must be well-defined
- All patient notes must be completed and contemporaneous
- The complaints procedure needs to be developed further; a full audit trail must be kept, and learnings shared with staff
- Policies and procedures need to reflect the service and be kept up to date in line with national guidance.
Full details of the inspection are given in the report published online at: www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-118839442
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