Archived: Thames Allergy Centre

We spoke with three staff and reviewed six care records. We considered whether people's needs were assessed and whether treatment was clearly explained. One person said that everything was 'Clearly explained' and thought that the staff were 'Very well trained.'

People told us that the environment was clean. We also carried out a visual inspection and saw that the service was clean and tidy. We noted that staff understood how to minimise the risk of infection and this included the appropriate use of alcohol gels and when to wash hands. However, there was no risk assessment in place to demonstrate that the service had assessed the risks of not having an immediately accessible sink in the treatment room.

We saw that medicines were well managed and that there was an effective complaints system in place.

We found that patients had been given full information about treatment options and been able to make informed decisions about their care. These consent decisions were recorded.

The premises were clean and tidy however adequate steps had not been taken to control the risks of infection.

We found that the systems in place to monitor and dispose of out of date medicines were inadequate.

There were effective recruitment and selection procedures and checks were completed for staff prior to starting work with the provider.

There were systems in place to audit and monitor the quality of the service and to implement improvements.