On this occasion we did not speak with people who used the service. However we spoke with two members of staff who demonstrated understanding relating to maintaining secure records.

During our visit we took the opportunity to speak with many people and found that they were generally complementary about the care and dedication of the staff looking after them. We were told that communication was good, and that people felt supported and listened to.

People that we spoke with said the care was good. One person said, “The staff are excellent here, very friendly.”

Some of the people that we spoke with were concerned that the hospital would be closed and were keen to point out to us that they would find travelling further for treatment difficult. One person said, “I would not be able to get to Worthing as I don’t drive anymore and would struggle using public transport”. Another person said, “It’s a bit dated here isn’t it? But at least it’s not shut down”.

We found that people were receiving good care, and saw that people were treated in a polite and respectful manner by staff. The hospital was generally clean and staff had a good understanding of infection control procedures. We had some concerns around the storage of confidential records.

Overall, people told us they were pleased with the care they received from staff at Southlands Hospital. We spoke to many patients and some relatives and all told us they had no reason to complain about anything. Many of the people we spoke told us that they trusted the doctors and nurses to make the right decisions about their care and treatment. Most said that they didn’t want all the details about their treatment and preferred not to know.

When we spoke to family members, we were told that they had been involved in making decisions about the care of their relative from the time they were admitted to the accident and emergency department and that every thing had been explained properly to them.

People we spoke to told us the food was good, it was served hot, that they had plenty of choice and large enough portions. Most people said they were happy with how food was served and the amount of help they were offered.

Several staff told us that the Director of Nursing and Patient Safety and the Heads of Surgery and Medicine make regular visits and spot checks to wards. We were told these included visits during the evening and at night.

We carried out an announced inspection visits across all trust sites from 9 to 11 December 2015. We held focus groups with a range of staff in the hospital, including nurses of all grades, junior doctors, consultants, midwives, student nurses, administrative and clerical staff, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, pharmacists, domestic staff, porters and volunteers. We also spoke with staff individually.

We talked with patients and staff from all the ward areas and outpatient services. We observed how people were being cared for, talked with carers and/or family members, and reviewed patient records of personal care and treatment.

We carried out an unannounced inspection on 21 December 2015 at Worthing Hospital.

Overall we found that Western Sussex Hospitals Foundation NHS Trust was providing good care and treatment from Southlands Hospital. This site provides a limited service with the focus on ambulatory care. There are no overnight beds at Southlands hospital but outpatient and day surgery services are provided. A new eye centre is being opened in the hospital in 2017. The main inpatient services and emergency care are provided from the two other trust hospitals in Chichester and Worthing.

Our report only considers two core services at Southlands Hospital (Outpatients and Surgery) as other core services that we usually report on were not provided from this site. Both these core services are rated good overall.  The responsiveness of the outpatient service was judged to be requiring improvement because the trust Referral to Treatment Time for some specialities was worse than the 18 week target.

We saw examples of good practice across the hospital. Where we identified shortcomings, the trust was aware of them and was already addressing the issues. The trust is one of the 16 members of NHS Quest, a member-convened network for Foundation Trusts who wish to focus on improving quality and safety within their organisations and across the wider NHS. NHS QUEST members work together, share challenges and design innovative solutions to provide the best care possible for patients.

Our key findings were –

• The executive team provided an exemplar of good team working and leadership. They had a real grasp of how their hospital was performing and knew their strengths and areas for improvement. They were able to motivate and enthuse staff to ‘buy in’ to their vision and strategy for service development. Middle managers adopted the senior manager’s example in creating a culture of respect and enthusiasm for continuous improvement.

• Innovation was encouraged and supported. We saw examples that, when raised directly with the Chief Executive and her team, had been allowed to flourish and spread across the services. At Southlands hospital, the creation of the new eye centre was an example of innovative solutions to improve patient care and experiences.

• We saw respectful and warm relationships internally amongst staff teams, the wider hospital team and outwards to external stakeholders and the local community.

• Across the hospital there was an embedded culture of learning from incidents. Staff were encouraged to have an open and honest attitude towards reporting mistakes and incidents that were then thoroughly investigated. There was strong evidence of learning from incidents both locally and across the organisation.

• The hospital was performing better, and sometimes much better than comparable trusts across England on many measures. Where this was not the case, the trust had clear action plans and investigations on-going to bring about improvements.

• In 2014/15 the trust improved their infection control ratings for the sixth successive year.

• We found a good knowledge and understanding of the policies and guidance relating to safeguarding vulnerable adults and children. Staff at Southlands hospital had completed safeguarding training.

• Staff of all grades talked with great pride about the services they provided and all agreed they would be happy for their family members to be treated there

We observed good practice at Southlands Hospital that included –

Staff knowledge of vulnerable adult and safeguarding children and how they should proceed if concerns arose was a significant strength. There was very good joint and interagency working.

The culture of safety and learning from incidents and complaints was well embedded. All staff felt responsibility for reporting mistakes and incidents and there was good dissemination of learning following investigation or review.

Professor Sir Mike Richards

Chief Inspector of Hospitals