Hospital ranking jumps from 'inadequate' to 'good'

Kinvara Private Hospital was served a warning notice following an unannounced visit by the Care Quality Commission in September last year after inspectors found issues including clinical and patient environments that were “not safe, clean, well-maintained and fit for purpose”.

The hospital on Clifton Lane offers medical services including gynaecology, orthopaedic surgery, cosmetic surgery and general surgery, as well as treating disease, disorder and injuries, and offering diagnostic and screening procedures.

CQC inspectors last year rated the independent hospital, owned by The Karri Clinic Ltd, 'inadequate' for issues including not all staff completing mandatory and safeguarding training, and patients’ privacy and dignity “not always (being) respected”.

The health watchdog returned to Kinvara in May this year and in its report published in October the CQC said: “On this inspection we found significant improvements in all areas where we had previously taken enforcement action, including leadership and governance.

“As a result, all the breaches were removed, and we re-rated this service.”The independent health and social care regulator rated the hospital ‘good’ overall, and in four out of five key areas.

The 'safe' category was the only one judged to be 'requires improvement'.

Its outpatients and surgery departments were inspected separately across the CQC’s areas.

In the ‘effective’ and 'caring' categories, the outpatients department was inspected but not rated, and it was deemed 'good' in the ‘safe’, 'responsive' and ‘well-led’ categories.

Surgery ranked as ‘requires improvement’ in the 'safe' category but good in all other areas.

During the inspection, the CQC spoke to 16 members of clinical and non-clinical staff, including the senior management team, and four patients using the outpatient service.

Afterwards they spoke remotely with four patients who used the surgery service and the registered manager.

The report said: “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” and also kept equipment and the premises “visibly clean.”Inspectors also noted: “Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, took account of their individual needs, and helped them understand their conditions.”

However, inspectors did find that staff did not always receive an appraisal and complete one-to-one supervision, while the hospital's risk register version “did not include all their top risks”.

The CQC also commented on the hospital taking “immediate steps” following the first inspection including developing an action plan with “clear timescales for improvement” and a review of its systems and policies.Vasu Karri, the hospital's medical director, said: “We are delighted to receive a 'good' rating from the CQC, which is a testament to the exceptional work of our staff.

“We remain committed to maintaining our excellent patient safety record, high level of patient satisfaction and culture of continuous improvement.”