Eastbourne fertility centre ‘requires improvement’ according to inspection

Sussex Downs Fertility Centre, in Alder Close, now called iTrust Fertility Centre, is run by The Hospital Fertility Group Limited. The site was inspected by the Care Quality Commission and judged on five categories - how safe it is, how effective it is, how caring it is, how responsive it is, and how well-led it is. The care and response categories were rated as good and the other three required improvement, resulting in an overall rating of ‘requires improvement’.

The report said that although there were some safeguarding systems and processes to keep people safe, there was no documented policy for the safeguarding of children.

When it came to the staff, there were some ‘comprehensive processes in place for the induction of staff and monitoring of role-specific competencies’ but not all staff had completed training in key areas. There was also a lack of records to show that recruitment checks had been carried out and the management of staff documentation wasn’t praised.

According to the report, the arrangements for chaperoning were effectively managed and there were processes to assess the risk of, and prevent, detect and control the spread of infection. However, staff immunisations were not monitored in line with current guidance.

Appropriate arrangements were in place to manage medical emergencies and clinical record keeping was clear and in line with best practice guidance with evidence of clinical audit.

When it came to risks, there were effective governance/incident reporting/risk assessment processes in some areas but some identified risks were not always included in action planning or followed up in a timely manner.

The report said leaders were focused upon staffing levels and stabilising the staff team following a period of high staff turnover. Communication between staff was praised and complaints from patients were managed appropriately.

In terms of improvements that must be made due to breaching regulations, the report said: “Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients. Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care. Ensure persons employed in the provision of the regulated activity receive the appropriate support, training, professional development, supervision and appraisal necessary to enable them to carry out their duties.”

A spokesperson for the centre said: “At Sussex Downs Fertility Clinic we take the findings of this report very seriously and are absolutely committed to providing the highest standards of care to our patients.

“We take reassurance from the fact that the CQC found the service had good governance systems in place, good clinical record keeping and the leaders and clinical teams worked well together to deliver good patient care. However there are some areas we are working on improving and this work has already started.”

She said the following steps have already been taken:

The appointment of a training and development lead and HR manager who will support the development of all staff in this specialist field. They will also be responsible for going paperless in our staff documents and retention.

The implementation of a new electronic patient clinical management system which will support us in improving our governance and record keeping. Appointment of a new infection control lead to oversea all areas of infection control and best practice.

She said: “We will look forward to requesting another inspection in 2023 so we can demonstrate the improvements that have been put in place. As a provider of specialised healthcare, we are very proud of our excellent success rates and the fantastic team attitude and approach toward the levels of care we delivers. We are committed to consistently improving our services and standards of care we deliver to all our patients.”

See the full report here

More news from Eastbourne here