England’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals has told London Heart Centre Ltd that it must improve patient safety at its centre in Upper Wimpole Street, Marylebone, London.
Overall the hospital has been rated as Inadequate after a comprehensive inspection. It was rated Good for being caring and responsive. While being rated Inadequate for being safe and well led, during the inspection which took place in November 2018.
The London Heart Centre Ltd is operated by The London Heart Centre Ltd since 2007. Patients are offered electrocardiogram (ECG) and stress echocardiography (stress echo) services for adults and young people.
CQC’s Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals (South) Nigel Acheson, said:
“Overall, we have rated the service provided by London Heart Centre Ltd as Inadequate, because of concerns around safety and leadership.
“Leadership was not effective and did not have staff with the right skills and abilities to provide high-quality sustainable care. Neither were there effective systems in place to drive improvement and ensure high standards of care.
“However, in the main we found that staff were committed and delivered good care treating patients with compassion, dignity and respect. Staff felt supported by their managers with the required training to do their jobs.
“We also observed staff of different grades working together as a team for the benefit of patients. Doctors and other healthcare professionals worked together to support each other to provide good care.
“We have identified those areas where the service must improve. We will return to the London Heart Centre Ltd within six months to check on their progress made: if there is no improvement we will consider taking further action.”
Inspectors found that there were not effective systems in place to keep patients safe. The management of processes and risk was limited. Policies and procedures were not reviewed regularly and updated where required some out of date by years.
The report identifies a number of areas for improvement, including:
- The service did not comply with its recruitment policy to ensure all checks were completed prior to employment.
- The service did not show commitment to improving services by learning from when things went well or wrong, promoting training and innovation.
- Staff did not have adequate training on how to recognise and report abuse. Not all staff members understood how to protect patients from abuse, the relevant organisations to report to and their contact details.
- There were no clear lines of accountability and responsibility for completing the action plans from the governance audit, and Legionella and fire risk assessments.
You can read the report in when the inspection has been published on CQC’s website at: www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-927196774
For media enquiries, contact Ray Cooling, Regional Engagement Manager (London), on 020 7448 9136 or call the press office on 020 7448 9401 during office hours. Journalists wishing to speak to the press office outside of office hours can find out how to contact the team here www.cqc.org.uk/media/our-media-office. (Please note: the duty press officer is unable to advise members of the public on health or social care matters).
For general enquiries, please call 03000 61 61 61.