- NHS hospital
Birmingham Heartlands Hospital
On 21 November 2024, we published a report on Birmingham Heartlands Hospital. The assessment looked at medical and surgery services but did not award overall ratings to these or the hospital overall. You can read the full report in the document below. We will update this page with the results of this assessment soon.
- Birmingham Heartlands Hospital assessment report (rating: not rated)
Assessment report published 8 November 2024
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Surgical services at the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust are provided at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, Good Hope Hospital, Birmingham Heartlands Hospital and Solihull Hospital. Surgical services at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital includes day surgery, pre-assessment clinic, operating theatres, recovery and has over 200 surgical inpatient beds across 7 surgical wards.
During our onsite assessment we visited Ward 7 and Ward 4. As part of our assessment, we looked at 9 patient records, spoke with 7 patients, 2 relatives and 8 members of staff including ward managers, nurses, nurse associates, student nurses and health care assistants.
As this assessment was based on risk, we only completed quality statements which were connected to the areas of concern and therefore did not complete enough quality statements to re-rate the key questions and service overall. The ratings therefore remained the same as previous for each service. Surgery remained requires improvement for safe and responsive and good for effective and well-led.
We found:
There was evidence of a learning culture and patients were cared for in a safe environment. However, the service did not always have enough staff.
There were processes in place to assess the needs of patients using evidence-based tools. However, we found staff were not always completing them in line with trust guidance.
The service was inclusive and staff provided patients with patient-centred care and treatment.
There were governance processes in place and staff knew their roles and responsibilities. However, processes were not always effective.
People's experience of this service
During our onsite assessment, we spoke with 7 patients and 2 relatives. The feedback from them was very positive. Patients were fully included in their treatment plans and decision making and were made to feel like partners in their care. Patients told us they felt safe whilst admitted and received “excellent care” from the staff who were working on their wards. We also observed feedback collected from patients previously admitted who also provided positive feedback on their experiences.