Optimax Laser Eye Clinics - Southampton

Ratings - Refractive eye surgery

• Overall

  Good

• Safe

  Good

• Effective

  Good

• Caring

  Good

• Responsive

  Good

• Well-led

  Good

Our view of the service

Date of assessment: 09 June to 16 July 2026. Refractive eye surgery services at Optimax laser eye clinics Southampton is provided by Optimax Clinics Limited. The service provides a range of services such as refractive lens exchange, cataract surgery, and laser eye surgery such as LASIK, LASEK and YAG capsulotomy. This was a comprehensive assessment and was carried out because the service had not been inspected since 2021.

There were enough staff to ensure people’s safety and meet their needs. Staff and leaders were highly motivated and worked well together. The service developed safe systems that served the needs of their patients, and this worked well to promote effective shared care. The provider used monitoring and outcomes data to provide patients with innovative laser eye surgery forecast.

However, governance systems and audits were not always effective in identifying or addressing areas for improvement. Translation and interpretation processes were not designed well to safeguard vulnerable patients from risk of harm or demonstrate informed consent. Resuscitation equipment was not always managed well.

As part of this assessment, we undertook a second onsite assessment on 16 July 2026 to follow up on the above concerns identified during the first onsite assessment on 09 June 2026. The service was highly responsive and acted on feedback we shared immediately. There were significant improvements to the effectiveness of processes and systems for identifying and addressing areas needing improvement. Translation and interpretation processes were now significantly improved. The service introduced a programme of informed consent auditing and training to improve the quality of informed consent. Resuscitation equipment was now managed well, and leaders addressed the underlying procurement processes to prevent repeated shortfalls.

The service had made improvements and is no longer in breach of regulations in relation to safe care and treatment and good governance. The service had made improvements to secure storage of hazardous substances, infection prevention and control measures and were now undertaking benchmarking of patient outcomes.

People's experience of this service

We spoke with and observed the care and treatment received by 5 patients and their loved ones throughout our assessment of the service. We reviewed 8 patient records. Patients we spoke with felt staff were caring and they had been included in all discussions and decision making about their care and treatment.

Patients said staff treated them well and with kindness. Most patients were satisfied with the outcome of their care and treatment.