Archived: The Tonbridge Clinic

Updated 21 September 2018

The registered provider is Dr Christopher M Bowman.

This is a private practice owned by five partners, one of whom is the registered provider. Dr Bowman is registered and licensed to practise by the General Medical Council. There are no other clinical staff employed. The provider employs reception and administration support staff. The practice is provided in a converted two storey house, and is situated close to the centre of the town of Tonbridge.

Dr Bowman provides musculo-skeletal medicine and osteopathy consultations and treatment including joint injections and caudal epidurals (an injection in the back to reduce pain in the lower back or legs). Approximately 40-50 patients a week attend the clinic.

Services are provided from:

339 Shipbourne Road

Tonbridge

Kent

TN10 3EU

The provider is open on Monday from 8.30am to 7.00pm, on Tuesday and Thursday from 8.30am to 8.30pm, on Wednesday from 8.30am to 8.00pm, on Friday from 8.30am to 6.30pm, and on Saturday from 8.30am to 1.00pm.

We conducted a desk based review of The Tonbridge Clinic on 10 August 2018. The inspection team comprised an inspector.

We reviewed information from the provider including training records, policy schedules, complaints leaflets.

Updated 21 September 2018

We carried out an announced desk based focussed inspection on 10 August 2018 to follow up on areas requiring improvement identified at the services earlier inspection conducted on 25 January 2018.

Our findings were:

Are services safe?

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 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 with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

The service is registered with CQC under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 in respect of the provision of advice or treatment by, or under the supervision of, a medical practitioner, including the prescribing of medicines. The Tonbridge Clinic is registered to provide consultations and treatment in musculo-skeletal medicine. These services are provided by one medical practitioner in a designated consultation and treatment room within the clinic.

The clinic also provides osteopathy, physiotherapy, chiropody, acupuncture and other complementary treatments. These treatments are exempt by law from CQC regulation. Therefore, we were only able to inspect the treatment provided by the medical practitioner but not the other therapy services.

The medical practitioner 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 spoke with the practice manager and reviewed documentation to assess compliance with The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

Our key findings were:

• The provider had conducted pre-employment checks for administration and reception staff.

• The practice had access to a defibrillator and staff trained in its use.

• The practice had reviewed the accessibility of their complaints process and had revised their information leaflets which were available in their reception area.

• The practice had revised their governance structure to ensure the timely identification and management of risks. This included regularly reviewing and updating policies.