Cataract care at Preston eye hospital graded as ‘outstanding’ by industry inspectors

The CQC awarded SpaMedica Preston the highest possible overall rating, praising staff’s commitment to patient care.

The inspection report notes that “feedback from patients was continually positive. Patients said the service was “excellent”, “brilliant”, and that they had been kept well informed throughout their treatment. One patient said: “everything the service had done had been outstanding.”

In their key findings, inspectors highlighted how vital SpaMedica’s free patient transport service is for patients who would otherwise struggle to attend their appointments. It praised the hospital for its low intraoperative complication rates, which are less than half the national average.

They noted that SpaMedica Preston has helped to reduce the pressure on local NHS services by providing “a 24-hour, seven-day on-call service and managing any postoperative complication in house, whenever possible.”

The Preston site is one of 43 hospitals across England operated by SpaMedica, the UK’s leading provider of NHS cataract surgery. Since the hospital opened in August 2019, it has performed just under 12,000 NHS cataract surgeries, with inspectors highlighting that patients benefit from short waiting times to receive treatment.

Karen Knapton, CQC’s head of hospital inspection, said: “When we inspected SpaMedica Preston, we were extremely impressed by the level of care people received. Attending hospital for any kind of medical procedure can be daunting but staff put patients at ease immediately upon arrival, explained their treatment and were extremely caring, kind and respectful throughout their stay.

“We could see that all staff were happy in their jobs and enjoyed providing the best possible care for people. Feedback about the service was consistently positive and the whole team deserves to be congratulated for all their hard work and commitment.”

Hospital manager, Lisa Brundrett, said: “We pride ourselves on giving patients the best care and treatment possible and it’s wonderful to see everyone’s hard work recognised by the Care Quality Commission. We’re absolutely thrilled to be graded as ‘outstanding’ and I know our fantastic team will strive to maintain the same standards going forward.

“Cataract surgery can be nerve-wracking for many patients, so we try to make the experience as stress-free as possible, talking them through what to expect, making sure they have access to all the information they need, and answering any questions they have. Knowing they’re coming to a top-rated treatment provider will hopefully help to put their minds at rest too.

“Lots of patients come to see us after their surgery and tell us we’ve given them a new lease of life. It’s incredibly rewarding to know we’re helping them to get out and about again and resume the hobbies they love, whether that’s watching telly, reading a book, or cross-stitching!”

All SpaMedica’s hospitals that have been inspected by the Care Quality Commission to date have been rated as ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ and over 8,200 patients have given SpaMedica’s hospitals five-star ratings on the NHS UK website.