Optical Express - Southampton (The Avenue) Hospital

Updated 2 March 2026

Date of assessment: 21 to 30 May 2025. Optical Express Southampton (The Avenue) Hospital provides refractive eye surgery services. This assessment looked at refractive eye surgery services, in response to concerns raised by some staff to CQC. The rating of Optical Express Southampton (The Avenue) has remained good.

In our comprehensive assessment of refractive eye surgery services, we found the service monitored outcomes and used this information to make improvements. Staff and leaders demonstrated strong teamworking and collaboration to ensure patients were treated with kindness and dignity.

However, the service did not always deliver safe care and treatment in line with best practice guidelines. Staff and leaders did not ensure patient safety checks were always performed well. This meant patients could be at an increased risk of harm.

At this assessment we identified a breach of regulations in relation to Safe Care and Treatment.

Updated 16 April 2025

Date of assessment: 21 May to 30 May 2025. This was a responsive assessment which looked at refractive eye surgery services, in response to concerns raised by some staff to the CQC.

We rated the service as Good. The service monitored outcomes and used this information to make improvements. Staff and leaders demonstrated strong teamworking and collaboration to ensure patients were treated with kindness and dignity. There were enough competent and trained staff to ensure people’s safety and meet their needs. However, leaders did not always make sure patient safety risks were mitigated in a timely way.

We found 1 breach of the regulations in relation to safe care and treatment.