he Marion Gluck Clinic specialises in hormone balancing treatment using bio-identical hormones for both men and women over 18 years of age. Patients can book appointments by telephone, email or in person. The clinic estimates that it has approximately 1000 patients registered.

Patient facilities are provided on the third floor of the building. The staff team includes a clinical lead, four doctors, naturopath, physiotherapist. Chief operating officer, practice manager and six administration staff. The service is open between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday.

The provider is registered with CQC to carry out regulated activities of Treatment of disease, disorder and injury and Diagnostic and screening.

We carried out this inspection on 5 February 2019. The inspection team comprised of a CQC inspector and a GP specialist advisor.

Before visiting, we reviewed a range of information we hold about the service and asked the practice to send us some information about the service which we also reviewed.

During our visit we:

• Spoke with the owner, clinical lead, chief operating officer and the practice manager.

• Reviewed comment cards where patients had shared their views and experiences of the service in the days running up to the inspection.

• Reviewed documentary evidence relating to the service and inspected the facilities, equipment and security arrangements.

• We reviewed a number of patient records alongside the doctor. We needed to do this to understand how the service assessed and documented patients’ needs, consent and any treatment required.

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 formed the framework for the areas we looked at during the inspection.