Optimax Laser Eye Clinics Brighton is operated by Optimax Clinics Limited.

Optimax Laser Eye Clinics Brighton provides services for adults only over the age of 18 years old.

Optimax Laser Eye Clinics Brighton opened in 2005 and is located in central Hove in East Sussex.

The clinic is set over two levels, the lower ground floor is only accessible by a flight of stairs. The ground floor consists of, main waiting room, laser room, accessible toilet and a consultation room. The lower ground floor has public and staff toilets, a waiting area, manager’s office/counselling room, store room, topography room, kitchen and a further consultation room.

Optimax Laser Eye Clinics Brighton provides laser vision correction treatment only under local anaesthetic.

We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We have reported our inspection findings in the refractive eye surgery core service framework. We carried out the announced inspection on 29 October 2017.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we ask the same five questions of all services: are they safe, effective, caring, responsive to people's needs, and well-led? Where we have a legal duty to do so we rate services’ performance against each key question as outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate.

Throughout the inspection, we took account of what people told us and how the provider understood and complied with the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

Services we do not rate

We regulate refractive eye surgery, but we do not currently have a legal duty to rate them when they are provided as a single specialty service. We highlight good practice and issues that service providers need to improve and take regulatory action as necessary.

We found the following areas of good practice:

• There was effective incident reporting processes. All staff we spoke with knew how to report and escalate incidents.

• There were effective infection, prevention and control measures. All areas were visibly clean.

• The consent process was thorough which ensured patients were able to give informed consent regarding treatment.

• There was effective risk management process with all identified risks having undergonean assessment.

• Laser safety measures were in place and were monitored. Staff received twice year laser safety training.

• Policies, procedures and treatments were based on recognised national standards and guidance.

• The theatre environment met guidance set by the Royal College of Ophthalmologists.

• Pain relief was available to patients to take home following surgery.

• Staff were competent and trained to carry out their roles.

• Patients were involved in discussions about their treatment options.

• Patients were consistently positive about the care and treatment they received and staff provided compassionate care to patients.

• The service was accessible and appointments were easy to book.

• Complaints were managed in line with the provider’s policy by the clinic.

• All staff had completed their mandatory training and undergone an appraisal.

We also found outstanding practice:

• Patients were required to complete an electronic questionnaire to check their knowledge of the consent they had given for their treatment.

However, we also found the following issues that the service provider needs to improve:

• The medical advisory board meetings were poorly attended and meeting minutes were sparse.

• The corporate Optimax Laser Eye Clinics (OCL) complaints policy states if a patient was not happy with the response from OCL to contact the CQC.

• There was no policy or guidelines on how to treat a patient with a latex allergy.

• The door on the room where patients underwent diagnostic tests was left open during use compromising patients’ privacy.

• There was inconsistency in the removal of the single use paper sheet on the chin rest of diagnostic equipment.

• There was a lack of evidence of an overarching governance structure which fed into the clinic.

• The compliance, senior management and medical advisory board meetings did not follow a set format and evidence topics outlined within the company clinical governance policy.

Following this inspection, we told the provider that it should make some improvements, even though a regulation had not been breached, to help the service improve. Details are at the end of the report.

Amanda Stanford

Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals

People were complimentary about the care and treatment they had received. The provider gave people enough information in order for them to make decisions about their treatment. The provider followed a robust consent procedure with patients signing written consent forms before commencing treatment.

People told us that they were extremely happy with their treatment and the professionalism of staff. People had their individual needs assessed before commencing treatment and were given detailed information, including risks and side-effects.

Staff were trained to use equipment and carried out the necessary checks and procedures to promote patient safety. The provider was using equipment that was up to date and well maintained and followed the necessary protocols and guidelines in the safe use of equipment.

There was a robust recruitment and selection process in place with evidence of checks being undertaken for new employees. Staff had the appropriate qualifications, skills and knowledge for their roles. Staff completed a thorough induction process followed by on-going professional development.

The provider had effective systems in place to monitor the quality of service provision through surveys and audits. The provider effectively dealt with incidents, risks and complaints. People told us that they felt able to bring a concern or complaint to the direct attention of the doctor or manager, should the situation arise.

On the day of our visit we spoke to three patients who were attending the clinic for treatment, we also reviewed the systems used by the provider to capture feedback from patients. This included patient surveys, thank you cards and a comments/complaints book. One person we spoke to said "Excellent service from first enquiry to the surgery and especially the after care. I would recommend it". Other comments we saw included "A really good service all the way from beginning to end". Another person said "Lovely, friendly staff. Doctor was very patient with me as I am very nervous, I would recommend the clinic to friends."

We found that people who used the service were given enough information to make an informed decision about undergoing laser eye treatment. People were given time to consider their options before making the decision about surgery.

We looked at Infection control systems within the service, during our visit. We found that these were audited regularly by the manager and appropriate action taken if necessary to improve the service.

We saw there was a complaints system in place, with information and complaints forms readily available to people who used the service in the reception areas. Optimax responded to any complaints received within the timescales specified in their policies and procedures.

On the day of our visit no patients were available for us to talk to. However, we reviewed the mechanisms used by the provider to capture feedback from patients.

This included patient cards and letters which reflected a high degree of satisfaction and among those we found comments such as “thank you for all your support and help during my journey”, “thank you for your kind and encouraging words of support when I was so nervous” and “excellent service thank you”.