The Natural Doctor

Updated 9 November 2022

The Natural Doctor is an independent clinic in central London, which provides a range of bespoke healthcare service to adults and specialises in individualised bioidentical hormone replacement therapy and functional medicine. On average they offer 90 doctor consultations per month.

The Natural Doctor Limited is a private limited company and the provider of this independent healthcare service. The service is renting a consultation room, a small scan room and an office space on the third floor of 8 Upper Wimpole Street London W1G 6LH. The clinic is accessible by a lift. Online services can be accessed from the practice website: www.thenaturaldoctor.org

The service is run by a doctor. The service employs a practice manager who is supported by four administrative staff. The doctor is performing duties as a medical director and responsible for the management and day to day running of the service.

The service has core opening hours from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday. The service offers services for adults only. Consultations are available between 9am to 5pm on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Appointments for the scan are available between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday.

How we inspected this service

We reviewed information sent to us by the provider remotely prior to attending the site to reduce the time spent on site in line with our Covid-19 inspecting guidance. We spoke with the clinical director, registered manager, two consultants and administrative staff. We looked at records related to patient assessments and the provision of care and treatment. We also reviewed documentation related to the management of the service. We reviewed patient feedback provided to a third party.

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 9 November 2022

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 this announced comprehensive inspection of The Natural Doctor 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 Natural Doctor is an independent clinic in central London, which provides a range of bespoke healthcare service to adults and specialises in individualised bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, used to treat menopause symptoms and hormone imbalances.

This service is registered with CQC under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 in respect of some, but not all, of the services it provides.

The owner 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 with patients during this inspection.

Our key findings were:

• The service routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided.

• The provider had systems in place to protect people from avoidable harm and abuse.

• There was a clear vision to provide a safe, personalised, high quality service.

• All staff we spoke with felt valued by the leaders and said there was a high level of staff support and engagement.

• Patients could access care and treatment from the service within an appropriate timescale for their needs.

• The service had a business development strategy that effectively monitored the service provided to assure safety and patient satisfaction.

• We saw evidence that the provider was engaged with a peer group in relation to furthering the understanding and developing this area of medicine.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Hospitals and Interim Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services