The Care Quality Commission
  • Hospital
  • Independent hospital

Optical Express - London (Shaftesbury Avenue) Clinic

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

219-229 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8EL 0800 023 2020

Provided and run by:
Optical Express Limited

Important: The provider of this service changed. See old profile

All Inspections

6 July 2023

During a monthly review of our data

We carried out a review of the data available to us about Optical Express - London (Shaftesbury Avenue) Clinic 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 Optical Express - London (Shaftesbury Avenue) Clinic, you can give feedback on this service.

27 September 2022 and 30 September 2022

During a routine inspection

We had not previously rated this location. We rated it as good because:

  • The service had enough staff to care for patients and keep them safe. Staff managed safety well. The service controlled infection risk well. Staff assessed risks to patients, acted on them and kept good care records.
  • Staff provided good care and treatment. Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent. Staff worked well together for the benefit of patients, supported them to make decisions about their care, and had access to good information. Key services were available to suit patients' needs.
  • Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, took account of their individual needs, and helped them understand their conditions. They provided emotional support to patients, families and carers.
  • The service planned care to meet the needs of local people, took account of patients’ individual needs, and made it easy for people to give feedback. People could access the service when they needed it and did not have to wait for treatment.
  • Leaders ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills. Staff understood the service’s vision and values, and how to apply them in their work. Staff felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on the needs of patients receiving care. Staff were clear about their roles and accountabilities. All staff were committed to improving services continually.

11 and 19 December 2017

During an inspection looking at part of the service

Optical Express – London (Shaftesbury Avenue) Clinic is operated by Optical Express Limited. Facilities at the location include one laser treatment room, one surgeon’s examination room, one discharge room and one screening room.

The service provides laser correction procedures using class 4 and class 3b lasers carried out by ophthalmologists.

We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out the announced part of the inspection on 11 December 2017, along with an unannounced visit to the clinic on 19 December 2017.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we ask the same five questions of all services: are they safe, effective, caring, responsive to people's needs, and well-led? Where we have a legal duty to do so we rate services’ performance against each key question as outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate.

Throughout the inspection, we took account of what people told us and how the provider understood and complied with the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

We regulate refractive eye surgery but we do not currently have a legal duty to rate them when they are provided as a single specialty service. We highlight good practice and issues that service providers need to improve and take regulatory action as necessary.

We found the following issues that the service provider needs to improve:

  • The consent policy did not reflect Royal College of Ophthalmologists 2017 for  a seven day cooling off period between the initial consent meeting with the surgeon and the final consent by the surgeon.
  • There was inconsistent management of the environment, which resulted in clinical areas not always being clean and free from dirt and dust.
  • There was evidence of a lack of consistency in local leadership, which was also reflected in feedback from staff.

However, we found the following areas of good practice:

  • Patients were involved in their care and had the opportunity to ask questions at all stages of their treatment.
  • Staff treated people with kindness, care, respect and dignity.

Following this inspection, we told the provider that it must take some actions to comply with the regulations and that it should make other improvements, even though a regulation had not been breached, to help the service improve. We also issued the provider with three requirement notices that affected refractive eye surgery services. Details are at the end of the report.

Amanda Stanford

Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals (South East)