We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 30 January 2018 to ask the service the following key questions; Are services safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led?

Our findings were:

Are services safe?

We found that this service was providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services effective?

We found that this service was providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services caring?

We found that this service was providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services responsive?

We found that this service was providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services well-led?

We found that this service was providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Background

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the service was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

This was the first inspection undertaken at this service.

Private Doctor Clinic is an independent provider of GP services operating from rented clinical consultation and administration space in the premises of an NHS GP practice within the World’s End Health Centre, 529 Kings Road, London SW10 0UD. The premises are fully accessible to all patients and all services are provided on the ground floor.

The service is provided by a principal GP, supported by the service manager who is responsible for the day-to-day running of the service and three administration/reception staff. The service offers pre-bookable face-to-face private GP services to both adults and children, which includes travel immunisation and minor surgery. Patients can access appointments Monday to Sunday from 8am to 8pm. At the time of our inspection the service was seeing less than 30 patients per month of which 60% were aged between 17 and 40 years of age. The service told us demand for appointments peaked between 11am and 3pm.

The provider, Private Doctor Clinic Limited, is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) for the regulated activities of Treatment of Disease Disorder or Injury, Diagnostic & Screening Procedures, Maternity and Midwifery Services and Surgical Procedures.

The service manager is the registered manager. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

As part of our inspection, we asked for CQC comments cards to be completed by patients prior to our inspection. Sixteen comments cards were completed, all of which were positive about the service experienced. Patients commented that staff were efficient, professional and friendly. We were unable to speak with any patients directly at the inspection.

Our key findings were:

• There were systems in place to safeguard children and vulnerable adults from abuse and staff we spoke with knew how to identify and report safeguarding concerns. All staff had been trained to a level appropriate to their role.
• The service had systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the service learned from them and improved their processes.
• The practice carried out staff checks on recruitment and on an ongoing basis, including checks of professional registration where relevant.
• Staff were aware of current evidence based guidance and they had the skills, knowledge and experience to carry out their roles.
• There was some evidence of quality improvement and clinical audit, for example post-operative outcomes from minor surgical procedures.
• Consent procedures were in place and these were in line with legal requirements.
• Staff we spoke with were aware of their responsibility to respect people’s diversity and human rights.
• Systems were in place to protect personal information about patients. The service was registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
• Patients were able to access care and treatment from the clinic within an appropriate timescale for their needs.
• Information about services and how to complain was available.
• The service had proactively gathered feedback from patients.
• Governance arrangements were in place. There were clear responsibilities, roles and systems of accountability to support good governance and management. However, the provider did not have effective systems in place to alert it to the fact that some medicines required for use in medical emergencies had expired and had not been replaced. The provider relied on the NHS GP practice where it rented clinical rooms to ensure these were available.

There were areas where the provider could make improvements and should:

• Review the system in place to ensure all emergency equipment and medicines provided at the premises are available and fit for purpose.