Archived: MASTA Travel Clinic - Kings Cross

Updated 9 October 2019

MASTA Travel Clinic – Kings Cross is a private clinic providing travel health advice, travel and non-travel vaccines, to children and adults. The clinic is registered with the Care Quality Commission under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 to provide the regulated activities Diagnostic and screening procedures and Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

The head office for the provider MASTA Limited (Medical Advisory Services for Travellers Abroad) is based in Leeds. The medical team and head of operations is based there. They have many pharmacy and nurse-led travel clinics located throughout the United Kingdom.

The registered manager for the location is the senior nurse. 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 a legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

MASTA Travel Clinic – King’s Cross is located at Battle Bridge House, 300-306 Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1X 8DU. The service at the location commenced in June 2017. The premises are owned and managed by BUPA, with the provider having exclusive use of one consultation room.

MASTA Limited provides more than 170 private travel clinics across the UK. The clinic offers travel health consultations, travel and non-travel vaccines and travel medicines such as anti-malarial medicines to children and adults. The clinic is also a registered yellow fever vaccination centre. MASTA Limited are licenced for the importation and distribution of vaccination medicines, and to supply vaccines to GP surgeries and NHS services across the country. They also provide travel health training and mentorship for pharmacists and nurses.

The Kings Cross clinic is open between 8.30am and 6pm on Mondays and Wednesdays. In addition MASTA provide a telephone consultation service with specialist travel nurses and have a central customer service team to manage appointment bookings. Patients are able to attend one of the provider’s other London locations when the Kings Cross clinic is not open.

Updated 9 October 2019

This service is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspection 9 July 2018 – the provider was not rated at this stage in line with our methodology at the time.)

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Requires improvement

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at MASTA Travel Clinic – Kings Cross as part of our inspection programme 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.

Our key findings were:

• There were concerns regarding the cleanliness and hygiene of the premises and we were not assured there were effective systems in place to prevent and protect people from a healthcare-associated infection.
• Patients received an individualised travel health brief which was tailored to their specific needs and travel plans. The comprehensive health brief outlined a risk assessment; all travel vaccinations that were either required or recommended, and other relevant health information related to their destinations.
• The clinic had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. The provider discussed any incidents with the wider corporate team where lessons learned were shared to improve their processes across all locations.
• The provider ensured care and treatment was delivered according to evidence based guidelines and up to date travel health information.
• Staff had the relevant skills, knowledge and experience to deliver the care and treatment provided by the service.
• There were arrangements in place to deal with medical emergencies.
• Vaccines, medicines and emergency equipment were safely managed. There were clear systems in place relating to stock control.
• The provider encouraged and valued feedback from patients and staff.
• Staff treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• There was a leadership structure in place with clear responsibilities and roles of accountability to support good governance and management.

The areas where the provider must make improvements as they are in breach of regulations are:

• Maintain appropriate standards of hygiene for premises and equipment.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Review arrangement for chaperones requested by patients on the day of their appointment.
• Review the clinic’s signage arrangements with the host provider so that it is easier for patients to locate the service.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care