Archived: Aviation Medica

Updated 23 October 2018

Aviation Medica is an independent doctors service located at Stansted Airport. It provides medical assessments for airline pilots for the Civil Aviation Authority, Irish Aviation Authority and others, as detailed on the provider’s website http://www.aviation-medica.co.uk.

Whilst travel vaccines, general medicine and other medicals were previously carried out by the service, this is no longer the case and they are now solely focused on flight crew medicals. There are no medicines prescribed at the service. Where additional health needs are identified, patients are referred to other healthcare providers as appropriate.

The service is open every weekday from 8am until 5pm. Regulated activities are undertaken by the registered manager, who is a doctor and an approved aviation medical examiner. He also offers counselling services, having acquired further qualification through research into stress and its effects. He is supported by a personal assistant.

There is a car park located on-site and a regular complementary taxi service running from the airport to the location.

A comprehensive inspection was completed on 25th September 2018. Our inspection team was led by a CQC lead inspector and included a doctor specialist adviser.

Prior to the inspection, the provider sent us information about the services that were being provided, including details of significant events, staff and complaints and an updated statement of purpose.

We informed NHS England that we were inspecting the service; however we did not receive any information of concern from them.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we always ask the following five questions:

• Is it safe?
• Is it effective?
• Is it caring?
• Is it responsive to people’s needs?
• Is it well-led?

These questions therefore formed the framework for the areas we looked at during the inspection.

Updated 23 October 2018

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 25th 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 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 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.

Aviation Medica is an independent doctors service located at Stansted Airport. It provides medical assessments for airline pilots for the Civil Aviation Authority, Irish Aviation Authority and others, as detailed on the provider’s website http://www.aviation-medica.co.uk.

Regulated activities are undertaken by the registered manager, who is a qualified doctor and an approved aviation medical examiner. 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.

Our key findings were:

• The lead doctor demonstrated a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of pilots’ mental health needs through his thesis and other research.
• The service had clear systems to keep people safe and safeguarded from abuse. Whilst a chaperone had not been required for a number of years, we were advised that if this was requested, a female member of staff would undertake the role. This member of staff had received a DBS check and we were sent evidence that they had received chaperone training in the days after our inspection.
• The provider had created their own database to enable them to effectively continue their work in the event that other systems were unobtainable.
• There were systems to manage significant events and complaints, such as a policy and an annual review; however, no complaints or significant events had been received in the last 12 months.
• Infection control training was scheduled to be completed in the weeks following our inspection.
• We were sent evidence to confirm that clinical equipment had been calibrated.
• The service did not prescribe medicines to patients. Where a need for medicines was identified, patients were directed to other services.
• Clinicians were referred to the Civil Aviation Authority guidance to support them to make or confirm a diagnosis.
• We received 55 comment cards from patients about the care and treatment they received. In these, patients told us that the people who worked at the service were kind, caring and professional. Many patients commented that they had been returning to the service for many years and that they were consistently pleased with their care and treatment.
• The service team was small and consistent and patient demand was managed.

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

• Review staff training requirements on an ongoing basis to ensure that staff receive all training necessary for their role.
• Review systems regularly to ensure timely calibration testing of clinical equipment.

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