Nuffield Health Chichester Hospital, part of the wider Nuffield Health Charity, has achieved the highest possible rating of excellence by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) following an inspection in October 2021.
The hospital was visited by a CQC team of inspectors and regulation specialists with healthcare expertise who scrutinised all areas of the hospital’s practice, defining it as an ‘Outstanding’ hospital. The Hospital joins Nuffield Health’s Cambridge, Leeds and Tees hospitals in being awarded ‘Outstanding’ CQC ratings. The CQC inspectors highlighted the following in their published report:
- Feedback from patients and their relatives was very positive about the way staff treated them. Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, took account of their individual needs, and helped them understand their conditions. Staff went above and beyond to provide exceptional emotional support to patients, families and carers to minimise their distress.
- The service planned care to meet the needs of local people, took account of patients’ individual needs, and made it easy for people to give feedback. People could access the service when they needed it and did not have to wait too long for treatment.
- Staff worked well together for the benefit of patients, advised them on how to lead healthier lives, supported them to make decisions about their care, and had access to good information.
- There was compassionate inclusive and effective leadership at all levels. Leaders understood and managed the priorities and issues the service faced. They were highly visible and approachable in the service for patients and staff. Leaders encouraged innovation and all staff were committed to improving services.
- The service promoted collaborative working with the NHS and worked with the local hospital to help reduce waiting times for surgery caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Amanda Williams, CQC’s head of hospital inspection, said: “I am delighted to say that Nuffield Health Chichester Hospital has been awarded CQC’s highest rating of outstanding overall after our recent inspection, and it also received an overall rating of outstanding for surgical services. Leaders and staff are thoroughly deserving of such excellent ratings and should be congratulated. As a charity, the service is focused on patient care over profit and its values reflect this.
“There was an open culture throughout the hospital, and it was clear that communication was working well at all levels. Attendance at team meetings was good; staff told us they would sometimes come in on their days off to attend meetings, as they found them so useful.
“Staff respected people’s personal, cultural, social and religious needs. Feedback from patients and relatives was continually positive about the way staff treated them, with people telling us that nothing was too much trouble for the nurses, and that staff were kind and recognised when they were anxious. Staff also supported patients emotionally and even telephoned some patients 48 hours after their discharge to check on their recovery.
“The hospital performed consistently well against targets and had good results compared with other Nuffield locations; if an audit result was below target, the team acted swiftly to understand why and make improvements. Staff were encouraged to raise concerns and report incidents and near misses. These were reviewed and feedback was shared with all staff so improvements could be made. Learning from serious incidents was shared across all Nuffield Health Hospitals.”
John Bruell, Hospital Director at Nuffield Health Chichester Hospital commented: “We are delighted to receive this assessment of the quality of care we provide to our patients. We recognise the responsibility we have within the local community to deliver the best possible treatment and to respond to the individual needs of all our patients. The pandemic continues to place restrictions and delays into healthcare and we work very hard every day to facilitate and improve access for people to high quality care.
“This assessment from the CQC is an opportunity to acknowledge the exceptional dedication, commitment and skills of our teams throughout the hospital, from our nurses, clinicians and physiotherapists to our support staff, housekeepers, medical secretaries, porters and catering staff. I am extremely proud of everyone for their exceptional care for our patients and for overcoming the additional challenges of the pandemic,” he continued.
