Patient Charter

The Hospital Group: Our patient charter

The Hospital Group has developed a weight loss intervention and surgery commitment for patients. Our whole approach and ethos is to ensure we provide patients with the highest quality care before, during and after their procedure – and that we hold ourselves accountable for delivery of that care. This charter explains precisely how we deliver against that commitment.

Patients’ clinical care is carried out by qualified and experienced practitioners.

• All surgeons, doctors and anaesthetists with practising privileges at The Hospital Group’s facilities are fully registered with the General Medical Council (GMC), hold a Licence to Practice, and have their outcome data reviewed each month as part of the Governance Framework. In addition, the company’s Governance Committee meets every three months to receive assurance from the Responsible Officer that there are no ongoing concerns. Each GMC-registered member is rigorously bound by the GMC Members’ Code of Conduct which ensures they always act with integrity, accountably and honesty – in the primary interest of their patients.
• Nurse-prescribers and employees with practising privileges for non-surgical procedures and surgical aftercare at our facilities are fully accredited by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).
• All clinicians with practising privileges at our hospitals and clinics have a UK-based insurance policy in place, which is provided to The Hospital Group’s clinical governance team prior to the clinician commencing work with The Hospital Group. This is verified in advance of renewal on an annual basis.

All of The Hospital Group’s procedures are undertaken in a safe environment which adheres to the highest standards of clinical excellence.

• Patients undergoing surgical procedures receive care best suited to their clinical needs, in The Hospital Group’s purpose-built hospitals located in Bromsgrove and Manchester and in any third-party hospitals it uses.
• Our hospitals are dedicated to weight loss and cosmetic surgery. They adhere to the highest clinical standards and are subject to rigorous inspections both via regular internal audit, and by the relevant regulatory authority, namely the Care Quality Commission (CQC), Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) and Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS). Our facilities are inspected in the same way as all NHS and private hospitals and results are made publicly available for patient review.
• In certain rare instances, patients require some aspects of their care to be delivered outside of our facilities. On those occasions, we partner with other sector-leading private providers audited so as to ensure they meet our exacting standards, to help us cater to the needs of the patient.
• We are open and transparent and submit data at an organisational level to a range of independent healthcare bodies that measure and track our performance.
• Patients undergoing non-surgical procedures will do so in the dedicated facilities embedded within The Hospital Group surgical hospitals and  clinics and are, as a result, subject to the same clinical standards, regulated by the CQC, HIW and HIS.
• We provide data on infection rates, returns to theatre and surgical complications in our hospitals on an ongoing basis to a range of bodies, including the CQC, HIW and HIS, the Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN), the Breast Implant Registry, NHS England and the Local Intelligence Network. We are focused on continuing to achieve zero incidences of infections such as E-Coli, MRSA and C- Difficile.

We enable patients to make informed decisions so that they have full control of their care.

• We are open on issues that affect patients’ clinical care and the potential risks of elective surgery. Patients will have up to five engagements with our multi-disciplinary team prior to their surgery, and they are able to discuss their procedure with their surgical consultant at any time pre-operatively at no extra cost.
• We have a 14 day ‘cooling off’ period from the point at which a patient contracts with The Hospital Group for a surgical procedure. This is designed to ensure that patients are able to fully reflect on their decision and, consequently, enter procedures with complete peace of mind.
• We make patients aware of the risks of elective cosmetic and weight loss surgery throughout their consultation period. We conduct a quarterly review of our processes and protocols to communicate risk to patients, to ensure that they remain in line with the latest best practice as recognised across the sector. We regularly review and update our duty of candour protocols, which all surgeons adhere to.
• All patients have the ability to request their patient records any time they wish, free of charge. In addition, The Hopsital Group submits data to the Breast and Cosmetic Implant Registry, which enables patients to access their breast implant details at any time. We ensure that companies that supply The Hospital Group with medical devices provide products that carry the CE mark of approval.
• Furthermore, there are a range of robust checks and balances in place to ensure the medical suitability of each patient undergoing treatment at The Hospital Group.

We listen to patients and their concerns; and we believe that patients’ views and feedback are invaluable in ensuring that we uphold the highest standards of patient care across our hospitals and clinics.

• We actively seek patients’ perspective on their experience with The Hospital Group – and their ideas, views or needs are listened to and responded to by our staff at every level.
• We regularly engage with current and former patients to obtain a non-clinical perspective on the way we work, ensuring that we continue to deliver excellent patient-centric care. This includes an annual review of our patient charter to ensure that we are performing to the standards we have set ourselves.
• We undertake patient satisfaction surveys across our facilities, which are returned by patients, before, during and after their procedure. We have a robust process in place to ensure that all feedback is reported to and addressed by the appropriate teams, with outcomes shared with and reviewed by our Governance Committee on a quarterly basis.

Any concerns and complaints that patients raise to The Hospital Group are dealt with fairly, consistently and promptly.

• We take all patient complaints seriously and have in place a clear complaints policy that is in line with the principals, procedures and practices set out in the CQC Regulation 16 and the Independent Sector Complaint Adjudication Service (ISCAS) code of practice. ISCAS’s code of practice enables patients to undertake a free independent assessment of their complaint, following which we will guarantee to carry out any recommendation made by ISCAS. All complaints are acknowledged in writing within two working days and formally responded to within twenty working days, before following a multi-stage escalation process, culminating, if appropriate, with an ISCAS adjudication.
• All weight loss surgery patients can choose 1 or 2 years of aftercare and will be looked after by our weight loss support team throughout. 
• All cosmetic surgery patients receive a two-year aftercare programme following their treatment at The Hospital Group, which includes an unlimited number of consultations at our facilities and access to our 24/7 helpline. Furthermore, and if clinically indicated, we offer all breast surgery patients free revision surgery for two years post-surgery, with an option to increase this up to 5 years.

Marketing

Our marketing activity is honest and transparent, and we ensure that patients enter their procedure with a clear understanding of the potential risks and benefits of surgery. We have a separate Marketing Charter which outlines our approach to marketing, which can be found here.