Archived: The Third Space Medicine Limited

Updated 14 March 2019

The Third Space Medicine is located at 67 Brewer Street, London, W1F 9US. The practice is open from 7:30am to 8.30pm Monday to Thursday and 7.30am to 6.30pm on Fridays. GP appointments are from 8am to 1.30pm Monday to Thursday and 8am to 4pm on Fridays. There are approximately 5,000 registered patients. The practice team consists of a male GP, allied health professionals (physiotherapists, osteopath, nutritionist and massage therapists), a practice manager, a managing director, and three receptionists / administrators. The practice offers GP services and health assessments for children and adults. Patients can be referred to other services for diagnostic imaging and specialist care.

The provider is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) for the regulated activities of Diagnostic & Screening Procedures, Family planning and Treatment of Disease Disorder or Injury.

We carried out this inspection on 29 January 2019. The inspection was led by a CQC inspector who was accompanied by a GP specialist advisor.

Before visiting, we looked at a range of information that we hold about the practice. We reviewed the last inspection report from 27 and 29 March 2018, the provider’s action plan following the breaches of regulations identified at the last inspection, and information submitted by the service in response to our provider information request. During our visit we interviewed staff (GP, practice manager, managing director and receptionist), spoke with people using the service, observed practice, and reviewed documents.

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 14 March 2019

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 29 January 2019 to ask the service the following key questions; Are services safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led?

Our findings were:

Are services safe?

We found that this service was providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services effective?

We found that this service was providing effective care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services caring?

We found that this service was providing caring services in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services responsive?

We found that this service was providing responsive 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 practice was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

CQC inspected the service on 27 and 29 March 2018 and asked the provider to make improvements regarding safe care and treatment. Specifically, to ensure staff had received the appropriate level of safeguarding training, the calibration of clinical equipment, the availability of paediatric equipment, and access to historical training and recruitment documents. We checked these areas as part of this comprehensive inspection on 29 January 2019 and found the provider had made most of the necessary improvements.

The Third Space Medicine is an independent medical practice located in Soho in the London Borough of Westminster. The practice offers services for adults and children.

Seven people provided feedback about the service. All feedback we received was positive about the service.

Our key findings were:

• There were systems and processes in place to keep patients safe and safeguarded from abuse. Although some improvements were needed in respect of monitoring the safety of equipment and the monitoring of infection control processes.
• Quality improvement activity was used to review the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care provided. The practice ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to
• evidence-based guidelines.
• Staff had been trained to carry out their roles and had received regular annual appraisals.
• Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• There was a system in place to gather and act on feedback from patients. Information about services and how to complain was available.
• Governance and oversight had improved.

There were areas where the provider could make improvements and should:

• Review the systems for maintaining and calibrating all equipment according to manufacturers’ instructions.
• Review the processes for assessing and auditing the risk of, and preventing, detecting and controlling the spread of, infections.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP

Chief Inspector of General Practice