We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 7 September 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 not providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services effective?

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

Are services caring?

We found that this service was providing caring services in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services responsive?

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

Are services well-led?

We found that this service was not providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

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 provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

The Walcote Practice provides private GP services to self-funded and privately insured patients who are also registered with an NHS GP. Services include, but are not limited to; wellness screening and health checks, sexual health checks, and diagnosis and treatment of acute, chronic, and long term conditions. The service also provides minor surgery, the fitting of contraceptive implants, joint injections, travel services and vaccines, and mother and baby checks.

The lead GP 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.

A total of 39 patients provided feedback about the service which was all positive regarding the caring attitude of staff. Patients commented that the service was professional, friendly and thorough and they would recommend the service to others.

Our key findings were:

• Patient records were stored electronically and were encrypted to ensure they were safe and secure and adhered to data protection legislation.
• Patients who used the service had an initial consultation where a detailed medical history was taken. Patients who used the service were able to access detailed information regarding the services offered and delivered by the provider.
• The service understood the needs of patients and were proactive to ensure the service was accessible.
• The service won the ‘patient service 2018 whatclinic’ award for its provision of customer care.
• Staff had been provided with in house mandatory training however, not all staff had received safeguarding training to the appropriate level.
• The service had a system to identify patients who were also carers. Those patients received priority booking for consultations or home visits.
• The provider made extensive use of patient feedback as a measure to monitor and improve services.
• The website for the service was very clear and easily understood. In addition, it contained valuable information regarding treatments available and fees payable.
• The practice offered a range of health checks with a GP.
• There were shortfalls in some recording of checks of emergency medicines and equipment, checking identity and actions following safety alerts.

We identified regulations that were not being met and the provider must:

• Ensure patients are protected from abuse and improper treatment.
• Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.

You can see full details of the regulations not being met at the end of this report.