Background to this inspection
Updated
12 June 2019
Cardio Direct (UK) Ltd. Is located in Harley Street in central London and provides cardio screening for a full range of patients including those under the age of 19, who have been referred to the service by football academies as part of their care.
This is done to support other clinicians and specialists in treating these patients or preventing ill health. The services provided are split into four separate areas;
Sport screenings (including those from football academies),
- Investigations (from clinical referrals),
- Insurance medicals and
- Consultations.
Interventions include,
- Electrocardiograms (ECGs),
- Echocardiograms,
- 24-hour blood pressure monitoring,
- 24-hour ECG monitoring,
- Week long “event” recording (this test is for people with symptoms that occur rarely and can be worn until they experience such symptoms),
- Bubble studies (an ultra sound of the heart performed whilst an agitated solution is injected into a small vein in the back of the hand),
- Exercise ECG,
- Carotid duplex scan (a painless and non-invasive procedure that measures the extent of thickness of any plaque build-up within the carotid arteries using ultrasound) and
- Abdominal aortic aneurysm scan (AAA).
The providers website is;
The provider offers remote services in any setting the patient is in, be this at home or a sports club and they also have premises in The Hive, in London for sports related scans and imaging. The provider is also responsible for independent GP services from the main site under a different registration called Cooper Health. These did not form part of the inspection process.
Cardio Direct consists of seven clinical staff members, two directors and a team of reception and administrative staff.
The provider’s opening times are Monday to Friday, 9am until 5pm, but due to the bespoke nature of the service, patients are seen out of hours and at weekends where necessary.
This inspection was carried out on the 23 April 2019 and our inspection team was led by a CQC lead inspector. The team included a CQC GP specialist adviser.
Prior to the inspection, we reviewed all information available including the provider website, the previous report, information provided to us by the provider and intelligence we gathered from other sources, including stake holders.
The method we used to inspect included being open to talking to people using the service and their relatives, interviewing staff, observations and review of 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
12 June 2019
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Cardio Direct (UK) Ltd. as part of our inspection programme to rate independent health providers.
During our previous inspection on 13 December 2017, we asked the provider to make improvements regarding reviewing their procedures for infection prevention and control audits to ensure this was undertaken on a regular basis. Also, the provider should have obtained copies of fire safety and legionella assessments for the premises to satisfy themselves that these have been undertaken. At this inspection, we checked these areas as part of this comprehensive inspection and found this had been resolved.
The service provided screening and diagnostic services in the area of cardiac medicine for various client groups, including those under the age of 19 as part of their ongoing care through football academies. This service was registered with CQC under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 in respect of all of the services it provided. The provider had a 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.
Our key findings were
:
- The provider had embedded systems to support the safeguarding of patients from abuse but were unable to demonstrate that these were always fully effective in practice.
- Clinical systems to support services offered by the provider were well planned, effective and safe.
- There was a process in place for patient feedback, but patients had not engaged. The provider therefore was looking to review the process to ensure better engagement regularly. This was not formally documented.
- The provider was unable to demonstrate any patient feedback in relation to access to care and treatment but was a bespoke service. The provider demonstrated that they worked around patient’s needs. For example, we saw evidence where weekend appointments were provided due to patient need.
- The governance systems in place were comprehensive but demonstrated that they would benefit from strengthening in the areas of risk management.
The areas where the provider Must make improvements are:
- Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.
The areas where the provider Should make improvements are:
- Continue to embed systems to support the collection and consideration of patient feedback.
- Review systems to ensure that personnel files provide assurances that all necessary information has been gathered at recruitment and on an ongoing basis.
Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care