Archived: Tyneside Surgical Services

Updated 11 December 2017

Tyneside Surgical Services, an independent healthcare provider predominantly for NHS patients, was established at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (part of Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust) in 2007. The service carries out elective surgery in line with a commissioned contract. It provides a range of elective speciality surgeries for patients over 18 years old including: Joint replacement, foot/ankle surgery, hand/wrist surgery, non-complex spinal surgery, plastic surgery, urology, gynaecology, general surgery and colo rectal surgery.

Tyneside Surgical Services employed a director of operations, a matron, a clinical services manager, a service manager, two part time outpatient nurses, one part time theatre nurse and an administration team. There was an agreement in place that GHNT staff staffed the wards and theatres. When GHNT were unable to provide a fully staffed theatre list, Tyneside Surgical Services would staff the list from casual worker contracts. There were 31 consultants and anaesthetists employed under practising privileges.

The service is registered to provide the following regulated activities:

• Diagnostic and screening procedures
• Surgical procedures
• Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

Core services provided were:

• Surgery (excluding cosmetic surgery)
• Outpatients
• Endoscopy

Surgery was the main service provided. Outpatient clinics were provided for initial consultations, pre-assessment and post-operative follow up. We have therefore reported the outpatient activities as part of the surgery core service.

Tyneside Surgical Services had a registered manager, who had been in place since April 2011.

Updated 11 December 2017

Tyneside Surgical Services is an independent healthcare provider for predominantly NHS patients, located at the Peter Smith Surgery Centre, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead. The service works in collaboration with Gateshead Health NHS Trust (GHNT). The pathway of care for patients is delivered within GHNT facilities, with patients accessing identical facilities and services as a Gateshead patient. The relationship between Tyneside Surgical Services and GHNT is governed by contractual agreements.

Patients requiring an elective procedure are operated on in the Peter Smith Surgery Centre, where there are four operating theatres. The Surgery Centre provides day surgery and inpatient stays for Tyneside Surgical Services patients on level one and two. Patients report to reception, which is the central administration point for the Surgery centre. GHNT staff manage this.

We inspected this service as part of our programme of inspection of independent health providers. We carried out an announced inspection visit on 26 September 2017.

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.

We rated this service as good overall.

We found the following areas of good practice:

• Incidents were reported and dealt with effectively. There were no serious patient safety incidents reported in relation to the service between April 2016 and March 2017.
• Policies and procedures were in place. The host hospital provided some of these relating to medicines management, infection control and maintenance of the environment and equipment. There was effective sharing of information between the two organisations.
• There were processes in place to protect vulnerable patients and staff were aware of their responsibilities.
• Care was planned and delivered in line with national evidence based guidance. Patient outcomes were measured.
• Suitably trained, competent staff delivered care and treatment. There was evidence of good multidisciplinary working.
• Patients gave positive feedback about the care and treatment they had received.
• Patients had timely access to initial assessment and diagnosis. Most patients received treatment within 18 weeks of referral.
• The service had a clearly defined vision and values. Key risks to the service were recorded and managed.
• The service had a contract with the host trust, which was regularly reviewed. Staff had built good relationships with host trust staff and there was good communication and sharing of information.

Ellen Armistead

Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals (North)

Updated 11 December 2017

Surgery was the main activity of the hospital. We rated this service as good because it was safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.