The Care Quality Commission
  • Hospital
  • NHS hospital

Mount Vernon Hospital

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Rickmansworth Road, Northwood, Middlesex, HA6 2RN (01923) 826111

Provided and run by:
The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

All Inspections

During an assessment of Surgery

The surgical service at Mount Vernon Hospital demonstrated a clear commitment to delivering high-quality, patient-centred care underpinned by strong governance, skilled leadership, and a collaborative culture of learning and improvement. Staff provided compassionate and respectful care, tailoring treatment plans to individual needs and fostering trust and confidence among patients and their families.

The service maintained robust safety systems, proactive incident reporting, and effective infection prevention and control measures. Leadership was visible and inclusive, supporting staff development and prioritising equality and diversity.

Innovation and personalised care were central to the service’s strengths, with patient-centred initiatives driving positive outcomes.

During an assessment of Urgent and emergency services

Date of assessment 23 to 24 September 2024. This assessment looked at Urgent Care Centre (UCC) which we rated as good.

The rating of Mount Vernon Hospital UCC has improved. In our assessment of UCC we found safety was a priority for everyone and leaders embedded a culture of openness and collaboration. People were protected from harm, abuse and discrimination. When people raised concerns about safety and ideas to improve, the primary response was to learn and improve continuously. Services were planned and organised with people and the wider health system in a way that improved the patient care journey. Leaders ensured there were enough skilled people to deliver safe care that promoted choice, control and individual wellbeing.

During an assessment of the hospital overall

Mount Vernon Hospital is part of The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and is located in Northwood, Hertfordshire. It provides a range of planned surgical and outpatient services, as well as urgent care to the local population and surrounding areas. The hospital specialises in elective day case and short-stay procedures across various specialties, including orthopaedics, general surgery, urology, and breast surgery. The site includes four fully equipped operating theatres and associated recovery areas, supported by pre-operative assessment facilities and outpatient clinics.

In addition to its surgical services, Mount Vernon Hospital hosts an Urgent Care Centre (UCC), providing same-day, walk-in treatment for minor injuries and illnesses. The UCC is nurse-led with general practitioner support, and operates seven days a week, offering an accessible alternative to emergency departments for non-life-threatening conditions.

The hospital works in close partnership with Hillingdon Hospital and other services within the trust to ensure continuity of care and effective coordination across pathways. It also contributes to staff education and development through training placements and collaborative working with local academic institutions.

2, 3 and 15 October 2014

During a routine inspection

We carried out this inspection as part of our comprehensive inspection programme of all NHS acute providers.

Overall, this hospital was rated as requires improvement and we found that each of the four core services we inspected at Mount Vernon Hospital require improvement.

Our key findings were as follows:

  • Data from April to September 2014 showed that over 99% of patients were seen within the national target of 95% of patients being admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours of attending the Minor Injuries Unit.
  • Staff training records showed low compliance with some areas of mandatory training including safeguarding children and management of medicines.
  • Two thirds of nursing staff on the elderly care ward were agency staff.
  • The trust performed better than expected in the number of patients acquiring clostridium difficile, however, they performed worse than expected for patients acquiring MRSA bacteraemia.
  • Letters to GPs were not being sent within the five-day period in line with trust policy.
  • System and processes did not make sure that staff checked the child protection register when necessary.

We saw several areas of good practice including:

  • The nurse practitioners in the Minor Injuries Unit made direct referrals to specialities both internally and externally to the hospital; this included tertiary referrals to specialists such as plastic surgery.
  • The effective management of 18 week referral to treatment times for patients.
  • Good access to physiotherapy and occupational therapy and good multidisciplinary team working for surgical patients at the hospital.
  • Good multidisciplinary team working to support one stop outpatient clinics.
  • The trust had a proactive specialist nurse for organ donation.

However, there were also areas of poor practice where the trust needs to make improvements:

The trust MUST

  • Make sure of the effective operation of systems to enable the trust to identify, assess and manage risks relating to the health, welfare and safety of patients.
  • Manage the risks associated with the numerous staffing establishment shortages across the trust.
  • Make sure that all staff receive the full suite of mandatory training that is required to manage risks to patient safety.
  • Make sure that all staff understand their responsibilities in relation to the trust’s systems and processes that exist to safeguard children.
  • Make sure agency staff receive an appropriate local induction on to wards.
  • Complete venous thromboembolism assessments as appropriate.

The trust should:

  • Review the resourcing of medical secretaries to make sure they can meet patient need and the trust’s own targets for sending GP letters.
  • Consider implementing the Friends and Family Test for all wards at the hospital.
  • Consider whether patient outcomes could be improved through dedicated consultant cover and / or consultant oversight for the Minor Injuries Unit.
  • Consider auditing pre-operative starvation to make sure patients are not starved for significantly longer than required.

Professor Sir Mike Richards

Chief Inspector of Hospitals

21 December 2011

During a routine inspection

Each of the patients we spoke with told us that they had been treated with dignity and respect by staff who were helpful, caring and polite. One person said 'They're really great here. It's a very good hospital'. Each person said that all the staff they had come into contact with were professional and seemed well able to do their jobs.

Patients told us that the choices about care, treatment and support had been explained to them from the point at which they had been referred for treatment through to their stay in the hospital. Everyone we spoke with said that they had been involved in the planning of their care from the outset.

Patients told us that they had found all parts of the hospital they had accessed to be very clean. They said that they saw staff washing their hands frequently and always before examining or treating them.

Each patient we spoke with told us that they would feel comfortable making comments to the hospital about their care and treatment.