Nuffield Health Shrewsbury Hospital has received an overall ‘good’ rating by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) following an unannounced inspection in July. This news sees 94% of all Nuffield Health Hospitals reviewed by regulators to date with a rating of ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’. Nuffield Health Shrewsbury Hospital remains the only hospital in Shropshire with a CQC ‘good’ rating.

The CQC ensures health and social care services in England provide people with safe, effective, compassionate and high-quality care and inspects services to make sure they meet fundamental standards below which care must never fall. CQC awards a rating based on the findings from the inspection. The four ratings are ‘outstanding’, ‘good’, ‘requires improvement’ or ‘inadequate’. The inspection focuses on five key areas that are important to patients and the public, these are: safety, effectiveness, patient care, responsiveness and leadership.

The published report highlighted a number of good / outstanding practices at Nuffield Health Shrewsbury Hospital including:

The hospital’s Patient Forum was rated as outstanding practice as it provided high levels of constructive engagement with staff and people who use the services. The Patient Forum participate in audits across hospital and the Chair also sits on the MAC (Medical Advisory Committee) to provide all relevant information back to the Forum.

The hospital’s dementia friendly environment and dementia friendly treatment was rated as ‘outstanding’ practice. The hospital provides a dementia toolkit, along with a ‘This is Me’ form, dignity audit and dementia letter. Staff also engage with Dementia Friends and had pledged to train all hospital staff by the end of 2018.

• Infection prevention and control was well managed; and was regularly audited to ensure staff compliance. This had been a big improvement from the last inspection (September 2016) resulting in a reduction in infections.

Senior management had a good understanding of the challenges that the service faced and were proactive and sought to rectify concerns quickly.

Staff worked to meet patients’ individual needs including dietary requirements; spiritual needs and helped them access support. The culture of the service was centred on the needs and experience of their patients which also promoted openness and honesty. Leaders encouraged staff to be open and honest with patients when things did go wrong. Staff were proud of the care they provided.

Mr Mike Haffenden, Hospital Director at Nuffield Health Shrewsbury Hospital comments: “This is a fantastic achievement and I am incredibly proud of the whole team for the outstanding care we have been able to provide our patients. This is a true testament to the dedication and commitment of our Matron, nurses, consultants and all the staff at our hospital.”

Nuffield Health is the UK’s largest independent not-for-profit organisation focused on health and wellbeing. Established in 1965, Nuffield Health Shrewsbury Hospital offers services such as orthopaedics, ophthalmology, general surgery and cosmetic surgery.