The Care Quality Commission
  • Doctor
  • Independent doctor

Carmenta Life

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Chesham House, Ground Floor, Church Lane, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, HP4 2AX (01442) 872591

Provided and run by:
Euro Health Service Limited

All Inspections

6 July 2023

During a monthly review of our data

We carried out a review of the data available to us about Carmenta Life on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.

This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.

If you have concerns about Carmenta Life, you can give feedback on this service.

19 June 2019

During a routine inspection

This service is rated as Good overall.

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Carmenta Life on 1 November 2018. We found that the service was not providing safe and well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations. A requirement notice was served in relation to the breaches identified under Regulation 12 - Safe care and treatment. We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Carmenta Life on 19 June 2019 to follow up on the breaches of regulation and as part of our inspection programme.

We found the service had taken the necessary action to make the required improvements in relation to the breaches of regulation we identified on 1 November 2018.

The full comprehensive report on the November 2018 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Carmenta Life on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Carmenta Life provides a range of general medical, gynaecology, paediatric, antenatal and post-natal services to private, fee-paying patients. Diagnostic and screening procedures are available using a range of high-quality equipment and laboratory tests. This includes performing ultrasound scans and taking blood and cytology samples for testing.

Carmenta Life is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 in respect of some, but not all, of the services it provides. There are some exemptions from regulation by CQC which relate to particular types of services and these are set out in Schedule 2 of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. Some of the services provided at Carmenta Life are not within the CQC scope of registration and are exempt from CQC regulation. We did not inspect or report on these services.

The service is registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide the regulated activities: treatment of disease, disorder or injury; family planning; maternity and midwifery services; surgical procedures and diagnostic and screening procedures.

Seven patients contacted the Care Quality Commission directly to share their experiences of the service with us. We also reviewed five patient Care Quality Commission comments cards at the service during our inspection. All of the comments we received were positive about the practitioners and the service experienced. Patients said they felt staff were personable, caring and respectful. They told us they felt listened to and had confidence and trust in the practitioners to make the right decisions about their care and treatment. They said the service was accessible and it was easy to book appointments.

Our key findings were:

  • Care and treatment was delivered in accordance with evidence-based guidelines. Quality improvement activity was used to review the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care provided.
  • Patients were treated with kindness, respect and compassion. Their privacy and dignity was respected and they were involved in decisions about their care and treatment.
  • Services were organised and delivered to meet patients’ needs. Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
  • There was a culture of high-quality, sustainable care. The service encouraged feedback from patients.
  • Structures, processes and systems to support good governance and management were clearly set out, understood and effective in most cases.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

  • Introduce a formalised, service-wide process and policy to verify the identity of service users prior to consultation or treatment.
  • Adhere to the intercollegiate guidance on safeguarding competencies so that staff complete the appropriate level of safeguarding adults training for their roles.
  • Strengthen the system in place to monitor that medicines and medical equipment are fit for purpose, so that the expiry dates of the medical oxygen and body spillage kits are regularly checked.
  • Take steps so that in all cases when a medicine is prescribed, the dose is accurately recorded in the patient’s notes.
  • Introduce a written business continuity plan that details how a service would be maintained in the event of a major incident.
  • Take steps to formalise and document the annual meeting of the medical practitioners at the service.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGPChief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care

01 November 2018

During a routine inspection

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 1 November 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 service was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

The service provides pregnancy and fertility services to fee-paying patients alongside other medical specialties. Carmenta Life offers a range of diagnostic and screening procedures using a range of high quality equipment and laboratory tests. This includes blood pressure, pregnancy health advice and ultrasound scans. Laboratory investigations includes a range of diagnostic and screening of blood tests and cytology samples.

The lead clinical consultant 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 Care Quality Commission comment cards to be completed by patients prior to our inspection. We received four comment cards which were positive about the level of care provided. Patients told us staff were reassuring and gave them the time to ask questions.

Our key findings were:

  • There was no oversight of the risks associated with the service. For example, there had been no risk assessment completed for the premises, health and safety, fire, legionella or emergency medicines.
  • Staff did not receive regular appraisals and one staff member had not completed mandatory fire or infection control training.
  • An infection control audit had not been completed to identify or address concerns.
  • Clinical records were detailed and held securely. The service did not keep paper records.
  • Staff members were knowledgeable and had the experience and skills required to carry out their roles.
  • There were no practice meetings or formal communication with staff.
  • The provider did not document verbal complaints received however, the provider was able to give examples of how verbal complaints had led to improved care.
  • Patients were able to book appointments directly with the practitioners at a time that was convenient to them, this included at evenings and weekends.

The areas where the provider must make improvements as they are in breach of regulations are:

  • Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

  • Improve the process for recording verbal consent obtained from patients to undertake examination or treatment.
  • Improve communication mechanisms with staff members.
  • Improve the safeguarding policy to include a safeguarding lead for the service.
  • Improve the complaints policy to include the advertising of the complaints procedure on the website, the recording of verbal complaints and recording actions taken.

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

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP Chief Inspector of General Practice