• Hospital
  • Independent hospital

Hyperbaric Medicine Unit

St Richards Hospital, Spitalfield Lane, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 6SE (01243) 788122

Provided and run by:
QinetiQ Group Plc

All Inspections

27 February 2018

During a routine inspection

Hyperbaric Medicine Unit is operated by QinetiQ Group Plc. The service has one static Type A decompression chamber with an arched doorway into the main chamber to make access easier for patients. The unit is a category one facility, which allows for patients requiring intensive care support to be treated within the chamber. The chamber can accommodate five people sitting or two lying down or three sitting and one lying down.

Facilities include a two bedded clinical assessment area, helicopter landing site to allow for HM coastguard or air ambulance to quickly transfer patients to the unit and critical care support.

We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out the announced part of the inspection on 27 February 2018. Due to the nature of the service, we did not conduct an unannounced inspection.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we ask the same five questions of all services: are they safe, effective, caring, responsive to people's needs, and well-led? Where we have a legal duty to do so we rate services’ performance against each key question as outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate.

Throughout the inspection, we took account of what people told us and how the provider understood and complied with the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

Services we do not rate

We regulate hyperbaric oxygen therapy services but we do not currently have a legal duty to rate them when they are provided as a single specialty service. We highlight good practice and issues that service providers need to improve and take regulatory action as necessary.

We found the following areas of good practice:

There were excellent processes and procedures for ensuring the delivery of safe, effective, high quality care. A range of standard operating procedures existed. Importantly, staff were well-versed and knowledgeable about the content of the operating procedures.

The service was staffed and supported by a range of health-care professionals who were competent and knowledgeable.

Patients were carefully risk assessed before they commenced therapy sessions. A comprehensive pre-assessment review was undertaken during which risks and benefits of therapy were discussed, as well as addressing queries and concerns raised by patients and their relatives.

The unit was visibly clean and well maintained.

Whilst there had been no incidents reported during the preceding twelve months, staff were well aware of their roles and responsibilities in regards to the reporting of, and learning from incidents.

There existed a flat hierarchy, which promoted a mutual respect amongst all health professionals. Individuals knew about their own professional accountabilities and responsibilities but they were also respectful of the roles of others within the team.

The management team promoted an open culture within the service allowing for staff to be candid with one another. There was a focus on learning and service enhancement and improvement.

The Hyperbaric Medicine Unit was a centre of research and was striving to participate in as many research opportunities that capacity and time allowed. There was recognition of the role research played in regards to hyperbaric therapy, especially in the case of elective patients who were referred with chronic conditions.

The service was responsive to the needs of its patients. The environment was fit for purpose with reasonable adjustments having been made to ensure the needs of the whole population could be met.

However,

The provider should look to further enhance its management of risk by ensuring areas such as risk assessments are routinely reviewed and considered within the team governance meeting.

The provider should look to extrapolate service level information from the staff engagement survey to enable exploration of any themes or trends, which may be applicable to the Hyperbaric Medicine Unit.

Amanda Stanford

Deputy Chief Inspector - Hospitals, London and South (Interim)

28 January 2014

During a routine inspection

People told us they were very happy with the care they received from the staff at the hyperbaric unit. They said, "It's the best hospital experience I have ever had". Another said, "I love coming here, it's so friendly and people are so kind; it's much better than being sat at home all day". People told us they had every confidence in the medical and nursing staff, who they described as, "Exceptional", when we spoke with a group of patients and relatives.

We found very good patient care provided to meet the properly assessed needs of individual patients. The holistic needs of patients were met through effective joint working with staff from the hospital in which the hyperbaric unit was sited.

18 March 2013

During a routine inspection

We spoke to two people who attended for treatment and two relatives; all were very highly complimentary about the staff and the service that they had received there. One person said 'I am very impressed with the way they have dealt with everything.'

People attended the unit for hyperbaric oxygen therapy for between 20 and 40 sessions for the treatment of a range of conditions.

They said that they had received comprehensive information before their treatment and that the staff had answered all their questions. One person said that the service was 'absolutely amazing' and staff were 'helpful and friendly. They make you feel confident.'

The clinical records showed effective, safe and appropriate personalised treatment and care to people through coordinated assessment, planning and delivery carried out by a multi disciplinary team. One person said 'they told me all about the treatment and gave me some leaflets. They gave me all the ins and outs and the pros and cons. All very helpful.'

The centre was clean and tidy and regularly monitored to prevent and control infections. All staff had received up to date infection control training.

We found that staff were suitably qualified and supported to enable them to meet the needs of people who received treatment in unit.

Information about how people could raise concerns was accessible to people in the clinic. Staff told us they were aware of the complaints policy and procedures.