SpaMedica Solihull

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

Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, took account of their individual needs, and helped them understand their conditions. The organisation cared about the wellbeing of their staff. This is the first assessment for this service. This key question has been rated as good. This meant patients felt well-supported, cared for and treated with dignity and respect.

This service scored 85 (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 patients with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect.

Patients felt they were treated with kindness, compassion and dignity in their care and support. Patients told us staff listened to them and communicated with them appropriately, in a way they could understand. Staff took the time to understand the needs of the patients. Staff told us they held patients’ hands when patients felt nervous. We saw a surgeon taking time throughout the surgery to explain to the patient what was happening, what sensation they may feel next and ensuring they felt comfortable throughout their procedure. We spoke with the patient following their surgery and they told us “The surgeon made me feel so comfortable the whole time. They were very good at explaining each stage and made sure I felt at ease the whole time. They were fantastic”.

Feedback from patients who used the service and those close to them were positive about the way staff treated them. One patient told us “It is a marvellous service, I cannot fault it”.

Patients’ individual needs and preferences were understood, and these were reflected in their care, treatment and support. Staff respected the individual needs of each patient and showed understanding and a non-judgmental attitude when caring for or discussing patients’ specific needs such as mental health needs. The staff had knitted ‘twiddle muffs’ for patients living with dementia. The nurses took the time to crochet ‘feeling flowers’ and ‘’worry worms’ for patients who were nervous. The patient could take these through with them whilst they were waiting for their surgery.

People were assured that information about them was treated confidentially, and they knew that staff respected their privacy. Staff made sure conversations were not overheard. Patients’ privacy and dignity was respected and always upheld. We observed interactions between patients and staff where staff ensured patients dignity was maintained. There were private areas for patients to have conversations and privacy screens between chair spaces in the ward area.

There is a culture of kindness and respect between colleagues from other organisations. Staff were moved between different hospitals within the provider network and they all treated each other with respect and worked well together.

Patients believed that staff responded to their needs quickly and efficiently, especially if they were in pain, discomfort, or distress. Patients told us the staff were attentive to their needs. We saw where patients experienced issues, they were rectified promptly and patients were made to feel at ease.

Patients who were treated under the NHS left reviews on the NHS website. We read all reviews from 2025, and they all gave the service 5 out of 5 stars. We saw comments included “Efficient and very smooth cataract operation. Time efficient, courteous, professional - just excellent throughout.”, “I have now had both cataract done within 7 weeks. The staff are so friendly and professional and I am delighted with the outcome, my sight is amazing now. Thank you.” And “The friendly, welcoming staff are all so very kind and helpful. They set you at ease and make the experience of having cataract surgery less worrying.”

The service treated patients as individuals and was exceptional in the way they made sure patients’ care, support and treatment met their needs and preferences. The service took account of patients’ strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics.

Patients’ personal, cultural, social and religious needs were understood and met. There was an inclusion and engagement calendar and at the time of our assessment, the reception area was decorated for Pride month. This provided a visual demonstration that the service welcomed staff, patients and relatives from the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ+) community.

Patients’ communication needs were mostly met to enable them to engage in their care, treatment and support to maximise their experience and outcomes. The service booked interpreters for patients who required interpretation. However, information was not always provided in all formats for patients who were partially sighted and were not able to read information displayed or in information leaflets.

The staff wanted to understand how patients who attended the hospital felt. Staff arranged for a local charity for blind and partially sighted people to visit. They also provided staff with ocular glasses which allowed staff to experience sight loss, so staff understood how some of their patients felt and saw what the service was like with reduced vision.

The service promoted patients' independence, so patients knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing.

Patients were supported to have choice and control over their own care and to make decisions about their care, treatment and wellbeing. Patients told us they were fully informed of all the treatment options available to them, including the potential positives and negatives. We observed an optometrist discussing a laser surgery with a patient. They gave information about cataracts and capsule opacity and the associated risks. The patient was given the opportunity to ask questions.

Patients were supported to understand their rights by using different ways to communicate. Their understanding was reviewed throughout their care and treatment.

There was a quarterly patient experience and engagement group for the medical retina service where patients were offered the opportunity to give feedback.

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

The managers were keen to understand the patient and what they experienced in the clinic. They arranged for a blind person to attend the clinic in February 2025 and consult them on the patient journey and ways it could improve. They fed back that the colours in the patient areas were all the same. For example, the floor, walls and chairs were all grey and it made it harder to differentiate between them. The service had applied yellow striped tape to chair legs to make them more visible. They also suggested creating a QR code associated with each information board which read out pertinent information to patients who could not read it easily. The managers had raised this, and it was being discussed in the clinical effectiveness meeting to see if this was possible.

People’s needs, views, wishes and comfort were mostly a priority and staff quickly anticipated these to avoid any preventable discomfort, concern or distress. The service asked patients to complete feedback surveys. Feedback results were mostly positive. However, there were some negative comments about a patient being left feeling cold, and nurses not assisting a patient with mobility.

Staff were alert to patient’s needs and took the time to observe, communicate and engage people in discussions about their immediate needs. All patients had a pre-operative assessment where the nurses discussed immediate needs. Where a patient had particular needs, these were accommodated.

Staff could quickly recognise when people needed urgent help or support and used appropriate tools and technology to assist. There were emergency buzzers in each patient area and CCTV in patient waiting areas. This allowed staff to see patients when they were not with them and act promptly if there was urgent assistance needed.

The service always cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and was exceptional at supporting and enabling staff to always deliver person-centred care.

The service had an “appreciation station”, where there were a range of cards, and e-cards, which staff could send to each other. If these were completed online publicly, other staff commented on achievements.

There was a culture of kindness and respect between colleagues. One staff member told us the culture was “fabulous”. They told us all staff looked out for each other and made the work environment a happy place. They celebrated each other’s birthday’s together, went out for meals once a month and respected religious holidays and celebrations as a team.

The company paid for staff to have lunch “SpaMedica Snacks” together every 3 months to thank them for their achievements.

There was a positivity pouch in the staff room which contained uplifting phrases or kind words which staff could either read when they needed to or give to someone else. Staff were encouraged to add to it.

The hospital manager was a mental health first aider and made sure they were supporting staff’s mental health. There was a ‘mind up’ system which included different activities to reduce stress along with agencies staff could refer to if they needed further support. The company offered cognitive behavioural therapy or counselling to staff who needed it.

The service completed an annual employee survey. The results were displayed in the staff room. Their overall employee satisfaction score was 86%; this had improved from the previous year which was 74%. All staff completed an action plan together as a team to ensure they were aligned on how they wanted to make improvements. Staff felt the senior leadership team listened to the results of the survey. For example, staff had said their maternity pay was poor. The people director came and spoke to staff about what was available and changed the maternity policy to be more favourable.

The company had a ‘feel good Friday’ newsletter where they celebrated successes.

There was a wellbeing hub which had 4 different topics which were “Move, munch, money and mind”. It gave practical support to staff in all these areas.

There was a quarterly ‘people’s forum’ which staff could attend. This was a session so leaders could hear the staff voice.

We reviewed several audits sent to us after the assessment where senior staff who had audited the service made comments about the staff. These included “A very caring and welcoming team who take great pride in delivery a high standard of care to our patients” and “the staff really looked after our patients to an extremely high standard of care, they communicated very well as a group. I believe the staff at Solihull site set a good example of patient care and professionalism.”

Leaders were alert to any examples of poor culture that could affect the quality of patients’ care and have a detrimental impact on staff. They addressed this quickly. For example, the manager felt the morale had dropped in May 2025. They completed a ‘start, stop and continue’ exercise together as a team. This looked at what was working as a team and what might need to change. The results of this were displayed in the staff room and the team were going to keep reviewing it to ensure staff were happy and morale was improving. The team had written: to stop being negative and working as a one-man team, to continue being friendly towards each other and working hard, to start ensuring protected time for staff to complete tasks such as ordering medication and to communicate with others when leaving.