A PRIVATE hospital has been told to improve by the healthcare watchdog.

BMI The Hampshire Clinic, in Basing Road, Old Basing, was visited by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in April and May this year, with inspectors rating the facility as ‘requires improvement’.

The service was given a ‘good’ rating in caring and responsiveness, with a ‘requires improvement’ rating given in safety, effectiveness and leadership.

Deputy chief inspector of hospitals, Amanda Stanford, wrote in the report: “The service did not manage medicines including controlled medicines and intravenous drugs effectively which could impact on patients’ safety.

“The service did not manage incidents effectively as these were not investigated in a timely way for improvement and learning.

“However there was a process for safeguarding children and adults which staff were confident in using.

“Staff told us they had adequate staff to meet the patients’ needs and they used their bank system and could access agency staff to cover staff’s shortages.”

Throughout the report, staff were praised by the patients that the inspectors talked to. In the report read: “They said that staff treated them with care and respect and their privacy and dignity were maintained when receiving care.”

A spokesperson for The Hampshire Clinic said: “We would like to reassure our patients that safety is our top priority.

“We have been working constructively with the CQC as part of our continued focus on providing excellent care, and have valued their input as we have addressed each and every recommendation that they have made since their visit some six months ago.

“We receive consistently high feedback from our patients, and it’s also important to note that this is reflected in the rating of ‘good’ given to us by the CQC in relation to their assessed criteria of ‘caring’ and ‘responsive’.”