Spire Parkway Hospital

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

We looked for evidence there was an inclusive and positive culture of continuous learning and improvement that was based on meeting the needs of patient who used services and their wider communities. We checked that leaders proactively supported staff and collaborated with partners to deliver care that was safe, integrated, person-centred, and sustainable, and to reduce inequalities.

At our last assessment we rated this key question good. At this assessment, the rating has remained good. This meant patient’s needs were met through good organisation and delivery.

We have not awarded this service a score for Well-led.

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

The service had a shared vision, strategy, and culture. This was based on transparency, equity, equality and human rights, diversity and inclusion, engagement, and understanding challenges and the needs of patient and their communities.

Staff were passionate about their work and responsive to the needs of people. The culture was focused on patient safety and care. It was clear from speaking with staff that they had confidence in the current leadership. They reported feeling supported by their teams and managers, and we noted staff worked well together across different grades and roles.

The Spire group strategy was to maintain efficiencies and grow. The hospital’s visions and values were displayed throughout the hospital. These included a vision of “We seek to help meet the West Midlands health needs by making Parkway a great hospital and developing new services.” The hospital had an operational plan which stated, “Build on quality and patient safety to make it a competitive advantage in all our activities” and “Making a positive difference to people’s lives, through outstanding personalised care.” 

Staff at all levels had an understanding of equality, diversity and human rights and they prioritised safe, high quality and compassionate care. At the time of our inspection, there were no concerns raised within the service about any types of bullying, harassment, or discriminative behaviours. However, we were told of some behaviours from previous management that had affected some staff’s wellbeing. This had now settled due to the change in senior management.

The service had leaders who understood the context in which they delivered care, treatment and support and embodied the culture and values of their workforce and organisation. Leaders had the skills, knowledge, experience, and credibility to lead effectively. 

Staff spoke positively of the manager of the imaging department who had been in post for 2 years and had made positive changes during their time. They were soon to leave for a regional role within the. Staff in the department were fully aware of this and succession planning ensured there would an effective handover.

Leaders had the of experience, skills, and abilities to run the service, and they understood and managed the priorities and issues the service faced. Senior leaders were visible and approachable in the department. Staff felt the leaders supported them to develop their skills and take on more senior roles.

Leaders had taken incidents seriously and knew how to deal with concerns when raised which promoted a positive culture in the service. Leaders attend service to assess for themselves how the service was running.

The service fostered a generally positive culture where patients felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard.

Staff and leaders acted with openness, honesty, and transparency. Staff were encouraged raise concerns and offer ideas; the culture allowed staff to be confident their voices were heard. 

The hospital had freedom to speak up champions on site whom staff were able to contact. A freedom to speak up guardian is a named person who can provide independent support and advice to staff that want to speak up. Staff told us they were aware of the champions and would access them if required.

When something went wrong, patients received a sincere and timely apology and were informed of any actions being taken to prevent the same happening again. We saw examples of responses to incidents and complaints and, when appropriate, these were open and honest giving them and their families an apology and a full explanation if things had gone wrong.

The service valued diversity in their workforce. Staff worked towards an inclusive and fair culture by improving equality and equity for everyone.

Many of the staff in the department worked part time and had their shifts arranged to support their personal circumstances. This resulted in a very low turnover of staff and meant people with specialist skills and experience were retained.

The service acted to prevent and address bullying and harassment at all levels and for all staff, with a clear focus on those with protected characteristics under the Equality Act and those from excluded and marginalised groups. 

All staff were required to complete equality and diversity and inclusion training tailored to their roles. At the time of our inspection, 87% of staff had completed this training but the trajectory was to achieve 100% by the end of the month.

The service had clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability and good governance. Staff used these to manage and deliver good quality and sustainable care, treatment, and support. Staff acted on information about risk, performance, and outcomes, and shared this with others when appropriate.

There were governance, management, and accountability arrangements. Staff understood their roles and responsibilities. This allowed for corporate oversight and benchmarking with other hospitals in the Spire Group.

The local governance structure included daily safety huddles to review staffing, patient numbers, and patient acuity. Information on any risks, incidents, complaints, and concerns was shared with staff each day. There was a weekly Rapid Response meeting which reviewed incidents, complaints compliments and audits. Regular staff meetings were held within the imaging department. There were regular departmental meetings with standing agenda items including incidents; complaints and compliments; training; audits and staffing levels as well as issues arising. We saw the notes of these meetings at they demonstrated how the department was integrated into the hospital and corporate governance structures.

Quarterly governance meeting included Hospital Safety, Quality and Risk committee, health and Safety Committee and Patient Experience Group. Minutes from all meetings were shared at the local medical advisory committee (MAC).

The hospital MAC ensured new consultant radiologists were only granted practising privileges if deemed competent and safe to practice. All consultants carried out procedures only within their scope of practice within their substantive post in the NHS. This was monitored centrally and any consultant whose practice showed an increase or decrease in activity would be reviewed. 

There was a corporate audit programme with monthly, quarterly, biannual, and annual audits scheduled. Results were benchmarked with other hospitals within the Spire group. These were discussed at the weekly Rapid Response meeting, monthly senior management meeting and reported to the Medical Advisory Committee. We saw examples in the department of audits being out of range and these had action plans and an increased audit frequency.

Leaders acted on the best information about risk, performance, and outcomes, and shared this securely with others when appropriate. Risks which had been reviewed and the score reduced or changed were discussed at the Hospital Safety, Quality and Risk committee. Each department had risk assessments in place that were reviewed at the Quality and Risk committee. The hospital had identified the highest risks on the register and the issue of the MRI reliability, as disclosed to us by staff.. However, the departmental lead was not aware of the issue of fire compartmentalisation.

The imaging department had a business continuity plan which included actions to take in the event of disruption to services.

The service understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership, so services work seamlessly for patient. Staff shared information and learning with partners and collaborated for improvement.

Staff and leaders at the service collaborated with relevant external stakeholders and agencies to improve care and treatment for patients using the service. For example, the hospital engaged with local cancer services, private health insurance companies, local NHS trusts, and other private hospitals to share information.

They held regular meetings with the local integrated care board to review performance, quality assurance, and the ongoing contracts.

The service had a strong focus on continuous learning, innovation and improvement across the organisation and local system. Staff often encouraged creative ways of delivering equality of experience, outcome, and quality of life for patients. Staff actively contributed to safe, effective practice and research.

The hospital held a shared learning event monthly and information was presented on a staff information board. All departments were encouraged to be involved. Actions and lessons learnt were included.

We saw recent examples of improvement and innovation specific to the imaging department.

There had been an MRI efficiency programme to cope with the increasing demand for scans. This was a thorough project that looked at ways to improve throughput and tested the ideas against realistic scenarios and limitations. Because there were already efficient processes in place only minor improvements were achieved, but the methodology was sound.

There was an improvement project to minimise patient radiation doses from CT scanning, and this was expended to inform patients of the reduced doses, to better inform their consent to their scan.