Quality and patient safety

Quality and patient safety is at the heart of everything we do, and we receive excellent feedback from our patients and regulators.

Our governance, culture and systems for overseeing the practice of consultants has been transformed in recent years, while 98% of our inspected locations are rated ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’, or the equivalent by health inspectors in England, Scotland and Wales. We have Freedom to Speak Up Guardians at clinical and non-clinical sites and available for remote colleagues, and have led the sector in this important safeguarding measure.

 Some of the key initiatives we have taken to strengthen patient safety and governance include:

• We were the first provider in the independent sector to introduce Freedom to Speak Up Guardians in every hospital, enabling colleagues to raise any concerns confidentially. Colleagues are regularly encouraged to share experiences and managers look at findings weekly
• New processes to examine and learn from incidents – PSIRF – were introduced in 2023/24, encouraging new conversations between colleagues and faster learning (see more below)
• Spending over £80 million each year on improvements, for example, purchasing new MRI and CT scanners, and the latest medical equipment and upgrading our operating theatres, wards, rooms and other parts of our hospitals
• Our board and senior leaders are closely engaged in governance, with three clinicians, Dame Professor Janet Husband, Professor Cliff Shearman and Jenny Kay, on our board, and two further clinicians, Dr Cathy Cale and Professor Lisa Grant on our executive team
  
  • 20 separate governance meetings, each year at board and executive level, dedicated to overseeing quality
  • Key performance indicators are scrutinised by clinical members of the board, examining themes and trends
  • A Quality Improvement (QI) approach to improving safety, improving outcomes for patients, reducing risk and sharing learning.

PSIRF, Freedom to Speak Up Guardians and QI approaches work together to create an open, learning environment, which is safer.

Sometimes in healthcare, things do go wrong. When they do, we are open, we investigate thoroughly and we make sure we learn lessons.

If you have any concerns, comments, or feedback, you can call 0800 169 1777 or send us feedback.

Quality care and patient safety is our top priority, and we have put many measures in place to ensure we're providing the highest service or care to our patents. Learn more about the many ways we keep you safe:

The Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) is a new approach to responding to patient safety incidents developed by NHS England. It is designed to help organisations learn from incidents and improve patient safety. As part of implementing PSIRF, organisations must first develop a PSIRF plan which will highlight the key areas of patient safety concerns.

Spire Healthcare is committed to learning from patient safety incidents and improving our care. PSIRF is helping us to achieve this goal across the whole organisation.

We were obliged to introduce it in England for our NHS patients but have chosen to introduce it in all our hospitals in the UK, and for every patient, as it improves safety.

For more information view our:

• Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) plan
• Spire Healthcare (PSIRF) policy

At Spire Healthcare, we are committed to openness, transparency and placing patient safety and quality at the heart of everything we do. As part of this, we are committed to implementing the Medical Practitioners Assurance Framework (MPAF), which aims to help strengthen systems governing the conduct of medical practitioners in the independent healthcare sector.

MPAF was published by the Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN), the representative body for independent healthcare providers in autumn 2019. It was developed under the leadership of Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, former National Medical Director at NHS England, supported by an Expert Advisory Group including representation from Spire and other acute independent providers, as well as the Patients Association, regulators and other independent bodies.

MPAF sets out best practice in four areas:

1. Clinical governance structures
2. Monitoring patient safety
3. Appraisals of medical practitioners
4. Raising and responding to concerns

IHPN published a refreshed MPAF in September 2022; we conducted a review and provided assurance to the board. In 2023, we remain fully compliant with the framework.

Read the Medical Practitioners Assurance Framework in full