Well Travelled Clinics - Chester

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 23 November 2018 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 service was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Well Travelled Clinics is a limited company which is a subsidiary of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM). All profits go back into the research and development work of LSTM. The service provides a private pre-travel advice, vaccination and malaria prophylaxis service to the travelling public of the northwest of the UK and a number of UK based corporate clients. The service is located in Chester city centre, close to all major transport links.

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. There are some general exemptions from regulation by CQC which relate to particular types of service and these are set out in Schedule 2 of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. At Well Travelled Clinics-Chester services are provided to patients under arrangements made by their employer. These types of arrangements are exempt by law from CQC regulation. Therefore, at Well Travelled Clinics-Chester we were only able to inspect the services which are not arranged for patients by their employers.

As part of our inspection we asked for Care Quality Commission comment cards to be completed by patients prior to our inspection visit. We received 30 comment cards, all of which were positive about the standard of care received.

Our key findings were:

• Systems were in place to protect people from avoidable harm and abuse. When mistakes occurred lessons were learned.
• There were effective arrangements in place for the management of vaccines and medicines.
• Staff were aware of current evidence based guidance. Staff had been trained to provide them with the skills and knowledge to deliver effective care and treatment.
• The service took part in audit and research.
• Care Quality Commission (CQC) comment cards reviewed indicated that patients were very satisfied with the service they received. Patients commented that this was an excellent service and that staff were very informative and helpful.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management and worked very well together as a team.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGPChief Inspector of General Practice