Spencer Private Hospital

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

We looked for evidence that people were always treated with kindness, empathy and compassion. We checked that people’s privacy and dignity was respected, that they understood that their experience of how they were treated and supported mattered. We also looked for evidence that every effort was made to take people’s wishes into account and respect their choices, to achieve the best possible outcomes for them.

At our last assessment we rated this key question as Good. At this assessment, we rated this key question as good. This meant people felt well-supported, cared for, and treated with dignity and respect.

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

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.

We spoke with patients during our visits and received positive remarks about care. One patient told us they felt well cared for and their relative also praised the staff for the care they received.

We reviewed data from the most recent annual patient experience report.

Patient feedback was positive overall, comments included,

“First class overall. What a team; my sincere thanks to all”

“The staff deserve praise for their work; always smiling. The staff and nurses were excellent, friendly, and extremely helpful. Staff like these are not easy to find and a credit to the service.”

Consultant feedback was positive, comments included,

“Explained everything really clearly, made me feel at ease”

“The doctor was very friendly right from the beginning, explained everything properly and did a fantastic surgery. The recovery was very quick, and I am lucky that my case was handled by this doctor as he is very experienced in such surgeries. Thanks.”

Themes from the report also included the benefits of private rooms including the privacy and dignity benefits that came from these facilities. The privacy and dignity policy supported this feedback.

The service treated people as individuals and made sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences. Staff took account of people’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics.

Staff were aware of patients’ individual needs. Risk assessments and pre-assessment processes showed this. Managers felt their pre-assessment processes used a structured approach which recorded individual needs and preferences of patients while still ensuring safety. Staff applied this information to the care they gave.

Staff understood the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policy which promoted equality values, religious beliefs, and the disability needs of patients. Care plans reflected these considerations.

Staff supported patients’ aspirations for their recovery. Support was given through information sharing and onward care planning for patients’ discharges including follow up appointments.

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

Staff promoted patient independence. Staff had processes which ensured patients had up to date information about the decisions involving their care. For example, consent for a procedure wasn’t confirmed until the day of the surgery which allowed patients to feel comfortable that they could change their mind up until the morning of the procedure.

Staff welcomed visitors and relatives of patients on the ward. Relatives said they felt welcomed by staff. Visitors were able to attend between 11.00am and 8.00pm with a request that only 2 visitors attended at a time.

Staff and support teams had access to suitable equipment to help patients in their recovery. This included early mobilisation exercises under the aid of physiotherapy staff.

Patients were able to bring in personal items and entertainment to the ward environment as part of their recovery subject to the approval of staff.

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 provided patients with inpatient questionnaires. Patients reported a 100% satisfaction score with the accommodation and facilities which included food provided.

The most recent inpatient questionnaire report found that 97% of patients had a positive experience and 99% of patients were happy to recommend their consultant to friends and family. Patients reported high satisfaction scores with the pre-assessment process, 98% of respondents said they were satisfied or highly satisfied with the process.

The most recent quarterly patient feedback data between October and December 2024 showed a 100% satisfaction score for overall experience with nursing and consultant care.

Staff were attentive to patient needs and regularly checked on patients as they went about their day. Staff showed consideration for how patients may raise concerns if they were unable to verbally communicate.

Staff responded promptly to call bells. Concerns were escalated and quickly actioned. All suitable concerns were shared through handover documentation at the changing of staff shifts.

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

Over 20 staff members were interviewed during this inspection to support our findings. Our findings were that staff morale had been low in the past year, but managers had completed team building activities with staff to improve this.

Staff felt culture had significantly improved in the past year. They praised managers at all levels who had been important in changing the culture of the provider.

Managers completed listening events that supported cultural work within the organisation. Staff were given various ways to contribute and they with felt included in the work.

Staff felt able to raise concerns. Managers had an open-door policy. Two freedom to speak up guardians were active within the organisation.

Staff took needed breaks despite a busy environment and had a quiet space to take this. Staff felt the workload for the service was busy but enjoyed the environment and felt they had what they needed to perform their roles.

Staff felt safe when doing their work. Staff were supported if they were struggling at work, and this had an impact on the care they delivered. Mangers offered support for occupational health needs and provided signposting where needed.

Staff had easy access to personalised support that recognised the diversity of the workforce. Managers recognised the value of a diverse workforce and embraced this.

Staff had opportunities to become mental health first aiders. Eight staff members were in the role and came from a mixture of admin and human resource backgrounds. Staff in these roles attended accredited external training which covered topics such as eating disorders and bereavement. Staff felt this encouraged peer support which meant the team felt closer.