HCA Healthcare UK awarded five CQC 'Outstanding' ratings

HCA Healthcare UK has received five ‘Outstanding’ ratings from the national regulators at the Care Quality Commission (CQC), following a recent inspection of four of its Leaders in Oncology Care (LOC) practice locations and its Golders Green Outpatients and Diagnostics Centre.

HCA Healthcare UK has a higher proportion of CQC ‘Outstanding’ ratings than any other private hospital group in the UK, with a total of 16 ‘Outstanding’ locations and 22 ‘Good’ locations.

LOC’s cancer treatment centres at Chelsea, Harley Street, London Bridge Hospital, and the Platinum Medical Centre which provide anti-cancer therapies including chemotherapy and immunotherapy as well as holistic support, were marked out for their outstanding practice in the categories of ‘caring’ and ‘effective’ indicative of good outcomes and compassionate delivery of care. 

The report highlighted that the staff across these locations go ‘above and beyond’ to treat patients with ‘compassion’ and ‘kindness’ and praised the wide range of complementary therapies and emotional support services which patients can access.

The inspections also identified multiple other examples of outstanding practice across these LOC locations that enabled the delivery of high quality, effective care, including;

• The Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) teams that provide truly personal care for every patient. A member of the CNS team could be present during clinics with consultants and throughout the patient journey. The CQC highlighted their role in coordinating the care of patients and as point the contact for those undergoing complex treatment, ensuring patients had a positive experience of care at what for many is a difficult and anxious time.

• The introduction of a pan-cancer-type molecular tumour board as part of MDT meetings to discuss the results from tests on an individual patient’s tumour genetic profile the help guide treatment and provide and an opportunity for patients to access available clinical trials.

• The electronic prescribing system for chemotherapy used by the LOC group ensures that treatment is not prescribed outside agreed protocols and ensures that any anomalies are investigated by senior team members. 

• The pharmacy team's inclusion in the patient pathway to review all patient medicines and offer direct advice to patients.

• The awarding of the Macmillan Cancer Support MQEM (Macmillan Quality Environment Mark) award, which involved a combination of environmental assessments, a review of supporting documents as well as getting direct feedback from patients and users of the service.

These ratings reflect the specialist care and capability that HCA UK Healthcare UK has across its system for cancer, which is the result of consistent investment in oncology services, the expertise of the teams and the robust clinical governance that supports the best outcomes and care for patients.

The CQC’s report for HCA UK’s Golders Green Outpatients and Diagnostics Centre highlighted an outstanding approach to leadership and responsiveness.

The Centre provides patients with diagnostic tests, screening facilities and treatment. Prominent within the report was the Centre’s commitment to training its staff and developing their skills so that colleagues felt ‘respected, supported and valued.

As evidence of this training, the report 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.

“I am delighted to say that we have awarded CQC’s highest rating of outstanding to Leaders in Oncology Care at all three of the sites we inspected for the first time recently; 95 Harley Street, London Bridge Hospital and Platinum Medical Centre. LOC at Chelsea has also done incredibly well to retain its outstanding rating awarded in 2019.

“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.

“We also saw many examples of outstanding practice. There were videos featuring patients and clinicians to explain the different types of treatment that people were likely to experience. Breast cancer patients were invited to contribute to the development of new patient leaflets, to ensure they contained information they felt would be important for future patients to understand.

“The service operated a hotline service 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for people undergoing chemotherapy treatment, so they could call and speak to someone, day or night, for advice if they were concerned about side effects. If someone needed urgent treatment, staff advised them to attend their local emergency department, then called ahead to let the team there know when to expect the patient, and what the issues were.

“Leaders and staff across these LOC sites are thoroughly deserving of their outstanding rating, they should be proud of themselves, and held up as an example of best practice in the care and treatment of patients with cancer. I would encourage other providers offering treatment to cancer patients to read the detailed reports and take learning from them back into their own services.”