Medway and Maidstone Ear Syringing Limited

Updated 30 June 2023

The registered provider is:

Medway and Maidstone Ear Syringing Limited

Unit 12 Box City

Culpepper Close

Rochester

ME2 4HN

Medway and Maidstone Ear Syringing Limited is a private company providing ear wax removal to patients over the age of 18 years and children over the age of 3. There are 2 directors, who are registered general nurses.

Regulated activities are provided from the provider’s location at Unit 12 Box City, Culpepper Close

Rochester, ME2 4HN. This location has appropriate access and facilities to meet the needs of all patients, however the provider accommodates home visits when required.

Current opening hours are Monday to Friday 9.00am to 8.00pm and Saturday 9.00am to 5.45pm.

How we inspected this service

Throughout the pandemic CQC has continued to regulate and respond to risk. However, taking into account the circumstances arising as a result of the pandemic, and in order to reduce risk, we have conducted our inspections differently.

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site. This was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements.

This included:

• Speaking with staff in person and on the telephone.
• Requesting evidence from the provider.
• A short site visit to the service.

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 30 June 2023

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 an announced comprehensive/focused inspection at Meddway and Maidstone Ear Syringing as part of our inspection programme. This was the first inspection of this service since registration on 8 November 2022.

This service is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 to provide the following regulated activities: Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

One of the directors is the registered manager and is a registered nurse. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the CQC 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.

Our key findings were:

• Policies and procedures were comprehensive, up to date and relevant to the service.
• All staff had the appropriate level of training relevant to their role.
• Consent was sought and recorded appropriately for each contact with the patient.
• Patient feedback was positive about their care experience.

The service was supportive of patients’ needs and patients were able to access the service

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

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