The Medical Eye Clinic

Updated 11 November 2022

The Medical Eye Clinic is operated by The Medical Eye Clinic Limited. It is an independent health provider delivering ophthalmic surgery and ophthalmic consultations. YAG (yttrium aluminium garnet) laser treatment is used as part of some cataract surgery as a non-invasive approach to improving vision. Dermatology outpatient services are provided on site by South West Dermatology, another organisation that operates under Medical Eye Clinic’s registration. Eye surgery is provided for both NHS and private patients. Dermatology care is provided for private patients.

The centre is registered to provide the following regulated activities:

• Surgical procedures
• Treatment of disease, disorder, or injury
• Diagnostic and screening procedures

Clinical services are delivered from a purpose-built unit located on a business park and is easily accessible by road. It opened in 2015 and primarily serves communities in Devon and increasingly accepts referrals from out of area to help reduce waiting times for treatment. There is a registered manager in post.

We last inspected this service in October 2017 and rated it requires improvement. This reflected requires improvement in the safe and well-led key questions, and good in effective, caring, and responsive. We issued three requirement notices for breaches of Regulation 12, Regulation 17, and Regulation 19. At this inspection we found significant improvements in standards of care that addressed our previous findings and regulatory breaches.

The service reported an average of 441 monthly patient interactions across all types of clinical care and around 2800 surgical procedures per year.

The provider holds its own registration with CQC and delivers most care in a formal partnership with another registered organisation, Newmedica. Most eye surgery takes place under this agreement. Both organisations are co-located in this unit, with separate branding and teams who work closely together. Most administrative aspects of the patient care pathway were carried out by Newmedica through a formal partnership agreement. We refer to Newmedica in this report to help detail the Medical Eye Clinic’s services but only the care and treatment provided directly by Medical Eye Clinic form part of our judgement and rating. Medical Eye Clinic also provides surgical treatment to its own patients independently of the partnership although these are infrequent and equate to fewer than 30 per year.

The main service provided by this hospital was surgery. Where our findings on outpatients – for example, management arrangements – also apply to other services, we do not repeat the information but cross-refer to the surgery service.

Updated 11 November 2022

Our rating of this location improved. We rated it as good because:

• The service had enough staff to care for patients and keep them safe. Staff had training in key skills, understood how to protect patients from abuse, and managed safety well. The service controlled infection risk well. Staff assessed risks to patients, acted on them and kept good care records. They managed medicines well. The service managed safety incidents well and learned lessons from them.
• Staff provided good care and treatment and managed pain well. The senior team 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.
• Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, took account of their individual needs, and helped them understand their conditions.
• The service planned care to meet the needs of 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 the senior team were proactive in working to reduce waiting times.
• 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. The service engaged with patients and the community to plan and manage services and all staff were committed to improving services continually.

Updated 11 November 2022

We have not previously inspected outpatients. We rated it as good because it was safe, effective, caring, responsive, and well led. Please see the main summary.

Outpatients is a small proportion of hospital activity. The main service was surgery. Where arrangements were the same, we have reported findings in the surgery section.

Updated 11 November 2022

Our rating of this service improved. We rated it as good because it was safe, effective, caring, responsive, and well led. Please see our main summary.