Archived: Private Doctor Clinic

Updated 24 September 2019

Private Doctor Clinic is an independent GP-led clinic specialising predominantly in minor surgical procedures, for example the removal of cysts and skin tags, and travel immunisations. The service is a registered Yellow Fever Vaccination Centre. The service sees patients 18 years of age and over. The service operates from rented clinical consultation and administration space in the premises of an NHS GP practice within the World’s End Health Centre, 529 Kings Road, London SW10 0UD. The premises are fully accessible to all patients and all services are provided on the ground floor.

The service is provided by a lead GP, supported by the general manager who is responsible for the day-to-day running of the service and one full-time administrator. The service offered pre-bookable face-to-face consultations and surgical procedures for adults aged 18 years and over.

Patients could access appointments Monday to Friday from 9am to 6.30pm and Saturday 9am to 2pm. At the time of our inspection the service told us they had seen approximately 80 patients since January 2018, of which approximately 90% was minor surgical procedures.

Pre-inspection information was gathered and reviewed before the inspection. On the day of the inspection we spoke with the lead GP, general manager and administrator. We also reviewed a wide range of documentary evidence including policies, written protocols and guidelines, recruitment and training records, significant events, patient survey results and complaints.

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 24 September 2019

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at the Private Doctor Clinic on 15 August 2019 as part of our inspection programme. The provider was previously inspected on 30 January 2018. This was an unrated inspection and we found the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Private Doctor Clinic is an independent GP-led clinic specialising predominantly in minor surgical procedures and travel immunisations. The provider operates from an NHS GP practice within the World’s End Health Centre, 529 Kings Road, London SW10 0UD.

The general manager is the registered manager. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the Care Quality Commission 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.

Private Doctor Clinic Limited is registered as an organisation with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) for the regulated activities of Treatment of Disease Disorder or Injury, Diagnostic & Screening Procedures, Maternity and Midwifery Services and Surgical Procedures.

We were unable to speak with any patients during the inspection. However, as part of our inspection process, we asked for CQC comments cards to be completed by patients during the two weeks prior to our inspection. Five comments cards were completed, all of which are positive about the service experienced. Patients said that the service was excellent, professional and efficient and that staff were friendly and considerate.

Our key findings were:

• There were systems in place to safeguard children and vulnerable adults from abuse and staff we spoke with knew how to identify and report safeguarding concerns. All staff had been trained to a level appropriate to their role.
• The service had systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the service learned from them and improved their processes.
• The service carried out staff checks on recruitment, including checks of professional registration where relevant.
• Clinical staff we spoke with were aware of current evidence-based guidance and they had the skills, knowledge and experience to carry out their roles.
• There was evidence of quality improvement, including clinical audit.
• Consent procedures were in place and these were in line with legal requirements.
• Staff we spoke with were aware of their responsibility to respect people’s diversity and human rights.
• Systems were in place to protect personal information about patients. The service was registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
• Patients were able to access care and treatment from the clinic within an appropriate timescale for their needs.
• Information about services and how to complain was available.
• The service had proactively gathered feedback from patients.
• Governance arrangements were in place. There were clear responsibilities, roles and systems of accountability to support good governance and management.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Review the chaperone procedure in line best practice guidelines.
• Review the process for retaining medical records in line with Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) guidance should the organisation cease trading.
• Review the arrangements for recording all contact with patients in the clinical records.