Patients we spoke with said they received treatment and care from well trained, polite and knowledgeable staff in clean, comfortable and safe surroundings. We were told by patients how the staff focussed on patients’ comfort and took great care to respect peoples' privacy and dignity at all stages of their treatment and care.

During our visit we spoke with five patients who were attending outpatient appointments. They told us that they were very satisfied with the service and care. One patient told us "the staff are very efficient here and nice and you couldn't wish for anything better". Another person remarked "I cannot speak highly enough of the staff, they are always so friendly and nothing is ever too much trouble".

We looked at patients’ records and found that there were systems in place to audit and monitor the quality of care provided. Patients told us that their care and treatment needs were planned and delivered in line with their individual care plan. One patient told us “The staff here are amazing and so kind. It’s a really friendly and well run clinic”.

The provider had systems in place to protect patients from abuse and to deal appropriately with concerns if they were raised. Staff had received relevant training and were confident about how to recognise signs of abuse and describe the steps needed to keep patients safe.

There were enough qualified, skilled and experienced staff to meet patients’ needs in the event of sickness and to allow adequate time to support staff.

We found that there were suitable arrangements in place to support staff with meaningful supervision, appropriate professional development and training, and an inclusive appraisal mechanism.

The provider had systems to deal with and respond to complaints.

We inspected Hove Polyclinic on 21 May 2014 as part of our comprehensive inspection of Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust.

Hove Polyclinic provided a safe and caring service, but required improvement in being responsive to patients and being well-led.

Our key findings were as follows:

• We found the outpatient department to be safe, accessible, well-maintained and fit for purpose. The outpatient department had sufficient essential equipment.
• Guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) was speciality-based within the speciality of the division. We saw copies of the relevant guidance for staff to access in the nurse manager’s office in the outpatient department.
• Nurses had received additional training to enable them to run nurse-led clinics. For example, Parkinson’s disease and cystic fibrosis clinics. Extended roles for nurses were in place in the pain management service.
• Each patient attended the outpatient clinic for long-term management of their clinical condition. On the inpatient notes, we saw the running records that demonstrated how patient care and support had been managed and how patients were involved in the care planning process.

However, there were also areas of poor practice where the trust needs to make improvements.

Importantly, the trust must:

• Ensure that effective systems are in place through the Hub, so that patients needing urgent referrals for assessment or treatment are dealt with promptly.

In addition the trust should:

• Ensure that there are systems in place to communicate necessary performance data to relevant clinic staff to enable them to more effectively manage the outpatient service at Hove Polyclinic.
• Ensure that there is feedback and communication from the medical records department to Hove Polyclinic.
• Ensure that Hove Polyclinic is part of a wider clinical governance framework for outpatient services across the trust.
• Ensure that staff are supported to attend appropriate internal and external training courses and are provided with time and resources that are fair and equitable to the individual staff member, the department and the trust as a whole.
• Ensure that Hove Polyclinic reviews the directional signage in relation to people who are visually impaired.

Professor Sir Mike Richards

Chief Inspector of Hospitals