Spire South Bank Hospital

Updated 23 September 2026

Our view of the service

The date of assessment: 23 April 2026 and 24 April 2026.

We carried out an unannounced risk-based assessment of the surgery service on 23 and 24 April 2026 due to an aged rating.

Spire South Bank Hospital is a private hospital located in the centre of Worcester and provides a wide range of elective inpatient, outpatient, diagnostic and surgical services. The hospital had a total of 25 beds across two inpatient wards and a day-case suite, which includes 15 single occupancy bedrooms with en-suite facilities, providing overnight accommodation for patients undergoing elective procedures. Day-case facilities are available within a dedicated suite and ward area for patients requiring shorter-stay treatments.

We rated the service as requires improvement overall.

At this assessment we identified a breach of regulations in relation to Good Governance in Diagnostic Imaging.

Updated 13 February 2026

We carried out an unannounced risk-based assessment of the diagnostic imaging service on 23 and 24 April 2026 due to an aged rating. We undertook a subsequent site visit on 18 May to follow up and seek assurance around some concerns we identified during our initial site visit.

The service offered a range of diagnostic procedures for adults, including X-ray, fluoroscopy, computerised tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), mammography and ultrasound. From April 2025 to March 2026, a total of 7, 983 diagnostic scans were carried out for MRI, CT, ultrasound, mammography and X-ray.

As part of the assessment, we visited all diagnostic modalities carried out at the service. We observed diagnostic procedures being carried out and reviewed 15 patient records. We reviewed hospital and imaging policies, procedures and operating procedures. We spoke to 17 staff members including the senior management team, the imaging manager, radiographers, radiographer assistants, administrative staff and radiologists. We spoke with 9 patients who had recently received a service.

During our inspection we identified some concerns with medicines management, the environment, equipment and governance. The senior management team responded positively to feedback and took immediate action. This resulted in some services being suspended on a temporary basis, including contrast CT, MRI and mammography. A rapid improvement plan was implemented and during a follow up visit on 18 May we were assured all concerns raised had been acted on.

We found 1 breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 in relation to governance.

The service did not have effective oversight of quality, safety and performance across the diagnostic imaging service. Some local imaging policies, procedures and guidance had not been reviewed or implemented. There was not an effective programme of image quality audits and peer reviews in place. Audits carried out were not always effective in identifying non-compliance.

We rated the service as requires improvement overall.

Updated 13 February 2026

We inspected the outpatient service on the 23 and 24 April 2026.

The hospital provides a range of outpatient services for adults and comprises of 10 consultation rooms. Outpatient treatments available at the hospital included appointments before and after endoscopy procedures and various surgeries. The outpatient department also offered health monitoring clinics, pain management support and physiotherapy appointments as well as bone and joint clinics, ophthalmology, and a range of general surgery appointments.

During the inspection, we spoke with 7 patients, relatives, consultants, nurses, healthcare assistants, administrative staff and senior leaders.

We observed care, reviewed patient records, examined governance documentation and inspected the clinical environment. The service only treated adults aged 18 and over.

Patient needs were assessed effectively, and they received evidence-based treatments. Patients were clear about their rights and confident they were receiving person centred care. Patients had choice over their treatment and staff were quick to respond to their changing needs.

Patients were actively involved in planning and delivering their care and could access care in ways that met their personal circumstances. There was continuity of care across services and patients received information they could understand and could provide feedback and raise concerns.

We rated this overall service as Good overall.

Updated 13 February 2026

The date of assessment: 23 April 2026 and 24 April 2026. 

We carried out an unannounced risk-based assessment of the surgery service on 23 and 24 April 2026 due to an aged rating.  

Spire South Bank Hospital is a private adult hospital located in the centre of Worcester and provides a wide range of elective inpatient, outpatient, diagnostic and surgical services. The hospital had a total of 25 beds across two inpatient wards and a day-case suite, which includes 15 single occupancy bedrooms with en-suite facilities, providing overnight accommodation for patients undergoing elective procedures. Day-case facilities are available within a dedicated suite and ward area for patients requiring shorter-stay treatments.  

We rated the service as good overall. 

Updated 6 November 2017

We rated outpatients and diagnostic imaging services as requires improvement for safety and well-led and good for caring and responsive. CQC does not have the methodology to rate the effective domain.

Not all staff were trained to the right level of safeguarding. In addition, staff who were trained to the right level, were not necessarily scheduled to work when there were children in the hospital.

Most of the staff were unclear of the procedure to report safeguarding concerns externally and told us that they would refer concerns to their line manager and/or matron.

Suitable arrangements were not in place to ensure advice could be obtained from a registered nurse (child branch) when children attended for appointments. However, we raised this with the hospital director who agreed to cease treating children with immediate effect.

Patient records maintained by the imaging department were not always legible. Records in the main outpatient department (OPD) area were not always stored securely although these were in private consulting rooms rather than in public areas

Conversations about patients between staff could be overheard by other patients.

There were no formal supervision arrangements in place.

There was no hearing loop in main outpatients.

The hospital had a clear vision and this was displayed throughout the hospital, on all desktops and formed part of the annual enabling excellence programme. Despite this not all staff were aware of it.

A business plan had been developed although this lacked strategic direction and was not supported by clear objectives and milestones.

Outpatient meetings were not held regularly and there was no discussion around performance of the department.

Outpatient performance was not discussed at the Clinical Governance Committee.

The risk register was not used to identify and record local risks faced by the hospital.

Care and treatment was delivered in line with evidence-based guidance.

Patients’ nutritional and hydration needs were met.

Patients’ pain levels were assessed and managed according to their need.

Information about the outcomes of patient care and treatment was routinely monitored.

Staff had the right qualifications, skills and knowledge to do their job.

Multidisciplinary team (MDT) working practices were in place.

Information about patients and clinical guidance was available to staff and provided in a timely manner.

Staff had an understanding of the relevant consent and decision making requirements of legislation.

Staff understood people’s needs and provided compassionate care.

Clinical staff communicated well with patients so that they understood their care and treatment options.

Staff understood the impact of treatment for patients and those close to them and took the time to listen to their concerns.

Services were planned and delivered in a way that met the needs of the local population and flexibility was reflected across each of the outpatient services.

Care and treatment was accessible at the patients’ convenience.

‘One-stop’ clinics for some specialities were available so patients could undergo tests and a consultation within the same appointment to minimise patient attendances.

98% of NHS patients were seen by a consultant within 18 weeks of their initial referral. Private patients were seen very rapidly.

The services had processes in place to manage patients with complex needs, including those with a learning disability.

Information on complaints or how to raise a concern was available to patients. Complaints and concerns were responded to in line with the complaints policy.

Each area of outpatients was overseen by a head of department, with exception of the breast unit, radiology staff reported to the imaging head of department and nursing staff reported to the outpatients’ head of department.

The views of staff and patient views and experiences were gathered and action plans developed to improve the service.