Scunthorpe Meridian House: Private patients at risk of harm

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said it had "serious concerns" about privately owned Meridian House in Scunthorpe

A private surgery has been rated as inadequate after needles were seen sticking out of overflowing bins with patients put at "risk of harm".

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said it had "serious concerns" about privately owned Meridian House in Scunthorpe.

An inspection found disposable curtains not replaced since 2022 and unemptied sanitary bins.

Trent Cliffs, which runs Meridian House, said it took "immediate action".

In the CQC's report, published following the inspection in December 2023, inspectors also said in four of eight records reviewed, patients had received a different procedure to those for which they had been booked.

Another record showed a patient was admitted for gynaecology procedures but a pregnancy test had not been taken, which "posed a potential risk".

'Reoccurring breaches'

The report found no evidence of deep cleaning and said medication was not managed and stored safely with IV fluids being kept on the floor and out-of-date medicines on the "spinal trolley".

"Following inspection, the provider took immediate steps to make improvements and introduced daily checking processes for staff to undertake," the report stated.

It said the lack of sufficient equipment, deep cleaning and general infection prevention measures were "reoccurring" breaches.

"The service put users at the risk of harm because staff did not always have equipment they need to deliver safe care."

Trent Cliffs said it decided to "temporarily cease their clinical activity to focus on addressing the concerns raised"

A third-party provider had been contracted to support the facility's paediatric surgery but "none of the staff files we reviewed included paediatric training".

The CQC said following inspection, bosses "submitted evidence to confirm" it had terminated the contract.

There was a lack of mandatory training in key skills and staff "did not know how to make a safeguarding referral and who to inform if they had concerns [about patient abuse]".

"The service did not always manage patient safety incidents well. Staff did not always recognise and reported incidents and near misses.

'Immediate action taken'

"Managers did not always investigate incident and share lessons learned with the whole team and the wider service. We saw no recorded evidence of duty of candour."

The CQC report mentioned the facility had taken "immediate steps to make improvements regarding some of the concerns raised" following the inspection, including replacing sharps bins, revising cleaning contracts and reintroducing paper-based cleaning schedules.

The private surgery also provided evidence of staff training to inspectors, the CQC said.

Trent Cliffs said "no direct patient safety issues were identified" and it decided to "temporarily cease their clinical activity to focus on addressing the concerns raised".

"Immediate action was taken and supporting evidence shared with CQC colleagues. The evidence was positively validated at a follow up visit from CQC in February 2024.

"CQC confirmed they were completely assured that all issues had been addressed and the organisation were in a position to continue their surgical work."