Archived: IPSA Medical Clinic

Updated 28 June 2019

IPSA Medical Clinic is registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide the regulated activities of: diagnostic and screening; and treatment of disease, disorder; and injury and family planning.

The service address is:

7 Harben Parade, Finchley Road, Hampstead, London, NW3 6JP

It is open and clinics run Saturday – Wednesday between 4.00pm – 8.00pm (the service is closed Thursdays and Fridays).

The clinical staff team at the service consists of one full-time female GP. The non-clinical team is led by a male full-time manager and two female part-time receptionists. Outside of working hours the service the phone system directed patients to the NHS 111 service.

How we inspected this service

During this inspection we:

• Spoke with a range of staff including the GP, manager and a receptionist.
• Looked at the systems in place for the running of the service.
• Looked at rooms and equipment used in the delivery of the service.
• Viewed a sample of key policies and procedures.
• Explored how clinical decisions are made.
• Reviewed 11 CQC comment cards which included feedback from patients about their experience of the service.

Our inspection team was led by a CQC lead inspector. The team included a specialist adviser.

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 28 June 2019

This service is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspection September 2018 when it was found to not be meeting the relevant standards for providing safe and well-led services).

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 IPSA Medical Clinic on 30 May 2019 as part of our inspection programme and to follow up on issues we found at our last inspection in September 2018. A copy of our previous inspection report can be found by going to https://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-514493173 and selecting the Reports tab.

When we inspected the service on 6 September 2018 we found that the service was not meeting the relevant standards for providing Safe and Well-led care. We issued requirement notices for breaches of Regulations 12 and 17 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, and asked the provider to make the following improvements:

• The GP had not received training in safeguarding of vulnerable children.
• DBS checks had not been completed for all staff who acted as chaperones.
• Not all staff had completed all training we would normally expect to be undertaken by staff in a GP service, including: Mental Capacity Act 2005, fire safety and information governance.
• Staff personnel files did not contain interview summaries, and evidence of training in the Mental Capacity Act and information governance.
• There was no record all medicines and equipment for use in an emergency were being regularly checked.
• Not all staff had received appropriate child safeguarding training which reflected legislation and local requirements.
• The system in place for reporting, recording and analysing significant events and complaints did not provide for written explanations or apologies.
• The service did not have policies for health and safety or fire safety.

We also identified some areas where the provider could make improvements and should:

• Review and consider installing curtains or a screen in the consultation room for the benefit of patient privacy and dignity.
• Review and consider making baby changing and changing waste disposal facilities available for the benefit of patients.
• Review and introduce a system to ensure learning from meetings is shared .
• Review and consider providing a hearing loop in reception for the benefit of patients who have a hearing impairment.

We checked these areas as part of this comprehensive inspection and found they had been resolved.

IPSA Medical Clinic is a private GP service, it provides services to adults and children. The service is located in Hampstead, in the London borough of Camden, within a pharmacy owned by the same directors. IPSA Medical Clinic is situated on the lower ground floor of the building.

The 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.

We did not speak to any patients during the inspection as it took place on a day when the clinic was closed. We reviewed 11 CQC comment cards and found that all contained positive comments. Patients said the service was excellent, they were given enough time to talk about their issues, appointments were arranged quickly, and the doctor was very nice and knowledgeable.

Our key findings were:

• The service had installed a curtain in the consultation room for the benefit of patient privacy and dignity.
• There were baby changing and changing waste disposal facilities available for the benefit of patients.
• The service was recording meeting minutes, and these were shared with all staff.
• There was a hearing loop in reception for the benefit of patients who had a hearing impairment.
• Staff understood their responsibilities to manage emergencies and to recognise those in need of urgent medical attention.
• We saw no evidence of discrimination when making care and treatment decisions.
• Interpretation services were available for patients who did not have English as a first language.
• The provider understood the needs of their patients and improved services in response to those needs.
• Leaders were knowledgeable about issues and priorities relating to the quality and future of services.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Consider providing the GP with update training to ensure their knowledge of vaccinations and immunisations is up-to-date.

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