BMI Southend Private Hospital is operated by BMI Southend Private Hospital Limited. The hospital offers day case surgery and an outpatients department. There are no overnight beds. Facilities include two operating theatres, a ward and recovery area and an outpatient department.

The hospital provides minor surgical procedures under local anaesthetic only – the majority being ophthalmic surgery. As well as the ophthalmic work the hospital also offers minor orthopaedic, podiatry and dermatology surgery and minor cosmetic procedures such and laser skin and hair removal. We inspected all services.

We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out an unannounced inspection on 9 October 2018.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we ask the same five questions of all services: are they safe, effective, caring, responsive to people's needs, and well-led? Where we have a legal duty to do so we rate services’ performance against each key question as outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate.

Throughout the inspection, we took account of what people told us and how the provider understood and complied with the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

The main service provided by this hospital was surgery. Where our findings on surgery – for example, management arrangements – also apply to other services, we do not repeat the information but cross-refer to the surgery service level.

Services we rate

We rated this hospital as good overall.

We found good practice in relation to surgery and outpatient care:

• The service ensured it had enough staff who completed mandatory and safeguarding training to keep people safe.

• The environment and equipment were suitable for use and staff ensured patients were protected from infection by using the appropriate infection, prevention and control measures.

• Risk assessments were completed for people who used the service and confidentiality was protected with well organised and managed individual care records.

• Staff knew how and when to record incidents and there were systems to identify, monitor and share learning from incidents.

• The service delivered evidence based care according to national guidance, performed local audits and measured patient outcomes.

• Staff were competent for their roles and were encouraged to develop further.

• Complaints were low and dealt with in a timely manner and according to corporate policy.

• The service ensured that patients were treated with kindness, dignity, respect and compassion and supported in making decisions about their treatment.

• The service was well-led, with effective leadership, management and governance of the organisation.

• Senior staff supported learning and innovation, and promoted an open and fair culture.

• There were clear and effective processes for managing risks, issues and performance.

We found areas of practice that require improvement in surgery and outpatient services:

• Some medical records within the outpatient department lacked legibility.

• The service did not meet the 90% target for patients admitted within 18 weeks of referral for seven out of the 12 months reviewed and were lower than the England average.

• The service did not follow its own procedure with regard to 48-hour post-operative follow up telephone calls.

Following this inspection, we told the provider that it should make improvements, even though a regulation had not been breached, to help the service improve. Details are at the end of the report.

Amanda Stanford

Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals