The Fertility & Gynaecology Academy

On this page

• Overview
• Kindness, compassion and dignity
• Treating people as individuals
• Independence, choice and control
• Responding to people’s immediate needs
• Workforce wellbeing and enablement

The service cared for patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect. Staff treated patients as individuals and tailored their care to their specific needs. Patients had choice over their treatment. This meant people were supported and treated with dignity and respect; and involved as partners in their care.

The last assessment of this service on 16 January 2014 was under an old methodology and was not rated. This is the first time this service had been rated. We rated caring as good.

We have not awarded this service a score for Caring.

Find out about when we will not publish a key question score and what we look at when we assess Caring.

The service always treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect.

Staff attitudes and behaviours when interacting with patients showed that they were caring and patients told us they were empathetic and provided, emotional support and advice at the time they needed it. We spoke with 2 patients who told us staff cared for their wellbeing. During the onsite inspection we did not see any patients attending the clinic for treatment falling under the CQC regulated activity, however we saw staff interact with patients in a kind and calm manner and patients appeared to have a good rapport with staff.

Staff supported patients to understand and manage their care, treatment or condition. We spoke with 4 members of nursing staff who all understood that patients attending the clinic might feel vulnerable and they were there to help support people during a time of heightened emotion.

The service treated people as individuals and made sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences.

The service made adjustments for patients by ensuring people’s access to premises and by meeting patients’ communication needs. The service had access ramps upon request for patients who used a wheelchair. Not all areas of the clinic were suitable for people with limited mobility and staff told us arrangements would be made to ensure all appointments were in accessible areas allowing patients to access the treatments they needed.

Patients had easy access to interpreters and/or signers. Staff told us they had access to a language line if needed but this was rarely used. Leaders told us there was a contract in place to provide a language line to ensure communication needs of patients were met.

Patients we spoke with told us they did not know how to make a complaint but would contact the consultant if they were unhappy with the care they received. Patients told us they felt comfortable raising concerns if they needed to but none of the patients we spoke with had needed to make a complaint. The service did not display posters or provide leaflets to patients about how to make a complaint.

Patients could access additional support via the clinic website. There were links to other organisations providing support and staff told us they would signpost patients there.

The service promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing.

Patients told us the procedures were explained to them, and the risks and benefits were discussed. They said they felt confident they could ask further questions and make informed decisions about their treatment.

Staff checked with patients to see if they were happy for their general practitioner (GP) to be given a summary of their visit. Staff also ensured patients understood the information which was provided by discussing this in detail in a language that was easy to understand.

The service listened to and understood people’s needs, views and wishes. Staff responded to people’s needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress.

Staff were aware of and dealt with any specific issues relating to the patients. Staff were conscious the patients they were treating might have had a difficult medical history and treated patients with empathy and care. A full obstetric history was taken which allowed staff to tailor their care to the needs of the patient with an understanding of any past treatments.

The female patient registration form asked patients whether they wanted a chaperone present during the appointment. As this was an automatic question staff asked, patients were put at ease and were not made to feel awkward about requesting this.

During certain treatments, patients were offered a warm drink to help make them comfortable and put them at ease. Staff told us it was important to help reduce patient anxiety and stress levels.

The service cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care.

Staff felt positive and proud about working for the provider and their team. All staff we spoke with spoke positively about the service and said managers were approachable and they felt comfortable discussing ideas with them.

Staff did not have an annual appraisal to discuss ongoing career development and how this could be supported. However, 2 health care assistants, who held nursing qualifications overseas, told us the provider was supporting them to obtain their registered general nurses’ (RGN) pin number in the UK, to allow them to work as a registered nurse.