The Park Hospital

Updated 28 November 2024

The Park Hospital is operated by Circle Health Group. Facilities at The Park Hospital included: 66 beds, 5 theatres, Level 3 intensive care unit, and a cardiac catheter laboratory. The Park Hospital was last rated Good (published July 2019). The report was published following CQC’s old inspection approach using key lines of enquiry (KLOEs), prompts and ratings characteristics. This assessment has been completed following the Care Quality Commission (CQC) new approach to assessment; Single Assessment Framework (SAF). We carried out our on-site assessment on 13 February and 21 August 2024 . We carried out an unannounced assessment at The Park Hospital after concerns were raised regarding staff culture. During these assessment we looked at all quality statements in Safe ; Learning culture, Safe systems, pathways and transitions, Safeguarding, Involving people to manage risks, Safe environment, Safe and effective staffing, Infection prevention and control and Medicines optimisation.

Updated 8 February 2024

The Park Hospital is operated by Circle Health Group. Facilities at The Park Hospital included: 66 beds, 5 theatres, Level 3 intensive care unit, and a cardiac catheter laboratory. The Park Hospital was last rated Good (published July 2019). The report was published following CQC’s old inspection approach using key lines of enquiry (KLOEs), prompts and ratings characteristics. This assessment has been completed following the Care Quality Commission (CQC) new approach to assessment; Single Assessment Framework (SAF). We carried out our on-site assessments on 13 February 2024 and 21 August 2024. We carried out the initial on-site unannounced assessment on 13 February 2024 at The Park Hospital after concerns were raised regarding staff culture. The following on-site unannounced assessment on 21 August 2024 was carried out to expand the inspection, mainly in the Safe domain. During these assessments we looked at 8 quality statements; Learning culture; Safe systems, pathways and transitions; Safeguarding; Involving people to manage risks; Safe environments and Safe and effective staffing; How staff and teams work together and Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders. We assessed some but not all quality statements at this visit which means we use the ratings from the previous inspection to rate the key questions of Safe, Effective and Well Led. We have not assessed any quality statements under caring and responsive, so the rating judgement for this has not changed since our last inspection.

Updated 27 March 2017

We rated this service as good because:

Staff were encouraged to report incidents. Incidents and lessons learned were discussed at integrated governance meetings and shared with all staff.

There was good multi-disciplinary working and relationships throughout the department, with the rest of the hospital and local NHS acute trusts.

Nursing, medical and allied healthcare professionals were caring and patients were positive about their care and experiences. Patients were treated with dignity and respect.

Care and treatment was provided in line with national guidelines and the service contributed data to relevant national audits.

Without exception, staff we spoke with were consistently positive about local leadership across all areas in medical care services at this hospital.

The culture of the ward, endoscopy (theatre team) and oncology team was nurturing and staff were professionally supportive of each other.

Some of the patient rooms and corridors did not comply with the requirements of regulations for infection control as they were carpeted.

Medical record documentation did not always meet satisfactory standards. The handwriting was not always legible. Daily reviews by consultants for inpatients were not documented within the medical records which meant patients may not receive the planned care.

Updated 27 March 2017

We rated this service as requires improvement because:

The hospital depended on bank staff who did not all receive mandatory training, and who were not always available if a child had an appointment at short notice. This posed a risk to patient safety.

The hospital did not have a clear system for allocating sufficient nursing staff to support clinics or for booking clinic rooms.

Equipment checks were not robust to keep people safe. Checks for cardiac monitoring equipment were overdue in diagnostic imaging.

The hospital had not defined its vision for outpatients or for children’s services. Its risk register and risk assessment approach did not include the risks to children, and there were no dedicated areas for children in outpatients.

The services did not use data and performance monitoring to improve quality. Participation in national and clinical audits and benchmarking was poor. There was a lack of formal monitoring of how responsive the service was for outpatients and no quality and performance dashboard reported publicly.

Public engagement and learning from patient comments in outpatients was limited. Although there was a corporate range of informative leaflets, there were no specific leaflets for outpatients who were children, or leaflets in alternative formats.

Staff learnt from safety and quality incidents and shared learning across the hospital, and governance arrangements supported this well. There was an effective process for investigating serious incidents. Staff had a good understanding of safeguarding and how to react to concerns.

The patients we spoke with told us staff were kind, caring and they were likely or extremely likely to recommend the service. Patients received clear information prior to their appointment and were able to ask questions and get clear responses during their appointment. Nurses, doctors and imaging staff obtained consent to care and treatment in line with legislation and guidance.

Staff considered the individualised needs of patients when planning care. Services coordinated appointments to enable patients to see a number of services in one day. Nurses, doctors and imaging staff combined their skills well in a good multidisciplinary team approach to meeting the needs of patients using the service.

The hospital had a clear vision for its imaging services and imaging staff contributed to strategic decisions. Outpatient staff had strong leadership at service level with the ability to problem solve.

Waiting times for outpatient appointments were within the national guidelines Patient care and treatment reflected relevant research and guidance, including the Royal Colleges and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance.