‘Inadequate’ patient safety reported at Harrogate private hospital

The BMI Healthcare-owned The Duchy Hospital in Harrogate has been rated by the Care Quality Commission as inadequate and has been told that it must improve on patient safety and hospital leadership.

Amanda Stanford, Head of Hospital Inspection at the CQC, said “Overall, we rated the service provided by BMI The Duchy Hospital as inadequate because we were concerned around safety and leadership.

“As a result of this inspection we identified a number of areas where the hospital must improve and issued five required notices.

“We found that in surgical and outpatient services, the hospital was not following the best practice guidelines with regard to World Health Organisation Safety checklists to ensure the systems were as safe as they should be. We raised this with the provider after our inspection as a matter of priority so action could be taken to address our concerns.

“Since the inspection we have been assured by the hospital that they have taken steps to address the issues raised and we will return in the near future to ensure that actions identified by the hospital have been implemented and embedded to ensure care is delivered safely and that the service is well led.”

In response to the report, a hospital spokesperson said “We appointed an experienced senior management team to ensure improvements at the hospital, including its refurbishment, have been fast-tracked.

“We made immediate changes to use of the minor procedures room and transferred the decontamination of endoscopy equipment to our specialised off-site facility.

“The team has worked with the hospital’s departmental managers to review staffing and provide further training to support the good, compassionate care our staff provide to the Duchy’s patients. The CQC has been pleased with the changes made and concluded no enforcement or other action was required.

“We were and remain disappointed with the ratings the CQC gave the hospital following its inspection nine months ago now and we have invited the CQC to re-inspect as early as possible.”

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Posted by Tony May, Partner/head of Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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