Forest Dialysis Unit

Ratings

• Overall

  Good

• Safe

  Good

• Effective

  Good

• Caring

  Good

• Responsive

  Good

• Well-led

  Good

Our view of the service

Forest Dialysis Unit is operated by Diaverum Facilities Management Limited. The service provides haemodialysis and dialysis for patients in renal failure to NHS patients over the age of 18 under a contract with Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The unit is located in a purpose-built building in a rural area on the outskirts of Cinderford, Gloucestershire. It has 12 dialysis stations, 4 of which are in private side rooms. Patients typically live in the Forest of Dean although the unit also provides treatment to patients in the area on holiday under an NHS England scheme. Patients receive care in dialysis chairs and the unit is open 6 days per week from 7am to 6.30pm. The provider registered this location in December 2023. A registered manager had their application under consideration at the time of our assessment and the service is registered to carry out the following regulated activities: • Diagnostic and screening procedures • Treatment of disease, disorder or injury We undertook this assessment in response to some concerns raised with CQC. We last inspected the service under a previous provider. We assessed a total of 10 quality statements from the safe, effective, caring and well led key questions and found areas of concern around staff competency checks, medical reviews, and emergency equipment checks. Ratings for all new providers are set to Good following initial registration checks and assessments, and therefore the ratings for the areas that we have not assessed during this assessment remain as good. We found 1 breach of regulation 12 in relation to safe and effective staffing and equipment and premises which impacted on care and treatment. Staff working at the unit had not had an appraisal or any clinical supervision since the unit was taken over in December 2023. Staff did not have protected or meaningful time to complete mandatory training. Only 67% of staff had undertaken mental capacity training. Regular quality assurance meetings involving the lead consultant responsible for patient care were not always happening. Regular quality assurance checks of resuscitation equipment were not always happening. In instances where CQC have decided to take civil or criminal enforcement action against a provider, we will publish this information on our website after any representations and/or appeals have been concluded.