HCA Healthcare UK has received five outstanding ratings from the Care Quality Commission (CQC), following inspections of four Leaders in Oncology Care (LOC) practices and its Golders Green outpatients and diagnostics Centre.
The private hospital group said it now has 12 outstanding locations and 14 good locations.
LOC cancer treatment centres at Chelsea, Harley Street, London Bridge Hospital, and the Platinum Medical Centre which provide anti-cancer therapies were praised by inspectors for outstanding practice in being caring and effective, indicating good outcomes and compassionate delivery of care.
The CQC report also highlighted that staff across these locations go “above and beyond” to treat patients with compassion and kindness and also praised the wide range of complementary therapies and emotional support services available to patients.
Examples of outstanding practice
Inspectors identified numerous examples of outstanding practice across the LOC locations including:
- The Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) teams that provide truly personal care for every patient. The CQC highlighted their role in coordinating the care of patients and as point the contact for those undergoing complex treatment.
- A pan-cancer-type molecular tumour board for meetings to discuss test results on a patient’s tumour genetic profile to help guide treatment and provide and an opportunity to access clinical trials.
- The electronic prescribing system for chemotherapy ensures treatment is not prescribed outside agreed protocols.
- The pharmacy team’s inclusion in the patient pathway to review all patient medicines and offer direct advice to patients.
- Receiving the Macmillan Cancer Support MQEM (Macmillan Quality Environment Mark) award.
Outstanding approach to leadership
The CQC report for HCA UK’s Golders Green outpatients and diagnostics Centre highlighted an outstanding approach to leadership and responsiveness.
In particular, the report noted the centre’s commitment to training its staff and developing their skills so colleagues felt ‘respected, supported and valued.’
Inspectors praised staff for working collaboratively to treat patients with compassion and kindness, take account of their individual needs, and help them understand their conditions.
Examples of this, as noted in the report, included:
- Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, took account of their individual needs, and helped them understand their conditions.
- People could access the service when they needed it and did not have to wait for a diagnostic procedure.
- 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.
John Reay, president and chief executive officer of HCA Healthcare UK, said: “We are incredibly proud to receive an additional five CQC outstanding ratings across our healthcare system, this time for our specialist cancer care at Leaders in Oncology Care and our outpatient care at Golders Green.
“Our record on good and outstanding ratings across HCA Healthcare UK is testament not only to the exceptional patient care that we strive to deliver every day, but to the talent, expertise and compassion of our colleagues and the robust governance frameworks that guide our care and drive the best outcomes.”
Commenting on the LOC ratings, Nicola Wise, head of hospital inspection at the CQC’s , said: “Across all four LOC sites we inspected, we saw that staff went out of their way to treat patients with compassion and kindness.
“They respected patients’ privacy and dignity and provided personalised care, helping them to understand their conditions. They took account of people’s individual needs, including cultural, social and religious, as well as both their physical and mental health.
“Patients and their families were provided with emotional support through a variety of services, which is so important when facing a cancer diagnosis and going through treatment. Not only that, they were also offered a wide selection of complementary relaxation therapies such as massage, aromatherapy and reiki.”
Wise added that inspectors saw many examples of outstanding practice and encouraged other providers offering treatment to cancer patients to read the detailed reports and take learning from them back into their own services.