Archived: Med-Pol Ltd

Updated 4 September 2019

Med-Pol Ltd is an independent health service based in East London. The service provides consultations and treatment for adults who primarily come from Poland; the service does not see any patients under 18 years old.

The staff team at Med-Pol Ltd consists of two male and two female doctors (a gynaecologist, a general surgeon, a urologist and a dermatologist) who are supported by an administrative staff member; there is also a clinical translator who works for service as and when needed.

The provider undertakes regulated activities from one location and is registered with the CQC to provide the following regulated activities: diagnostic and screening procedures; family planning; surgical procedures; and treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

The service is open on Fridays from 11am to 1pm and from 5pm to 9pm and on Saturdays from 9:30am to 3pm, although earlier and later appointments are available upon request.

One of the doctors at the service is also the registered manager. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the CQC 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.

The inspection was carried out on 2 August 2019. During the visit we:

• Spoke with staff, including the two doctors who own the provider organisation (the gynaecologist and the general surgeon), the administrative staff member and the clinical translator.
• Reviewed a sample of patient care and treatment records.
• Reviewed comment cards in which patients shared their views and experiences of the service.

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 4 September 2019

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of Med-Pol Ltd on 2 August 2019 as part of our inspection programme.

We had previously carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of the service on 14 December 2017 and found that it was not compliant with regulation 17 ‘good governance’, due to a lack of quality improvement activity. We subsequently carried out an announced focused inspection on 12 October 2018 to check whether the service had taken action to meet the requirements of the Health and Social Care Act 2008, and found at that inspection that the service was compliant with the relevant regulations.

Med-Pol Ltd is an independent health service based in East London.

Our key findings were:

• The service had some systems in place to keep people safe and safeguarded from abuse, however some were not in place or were ineffective.
• There were reliable systems for the appropriate and safe handling of medicines.
• The service had systems to record and review significant events and complaints, although none had occurred in the past 12 months.
• The service reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care and treatment provided through quality improvement activity.
• The service treated patients with kindness, respect and dignity, and patient feedback was positive about the service.
• The service had a clear vision and staff stated they felt respected, supported and valued.
• There were gaps in policies and processes to support good governance and management, and a lack of clarity around processes for managing risks, issues and performance.

We identified regulations that were not being met and the provider must:

• Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients.
• Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.

(Please see the specific details on action required at the end of this report).

There were areas where the provider could make improvements and should:

• Ensure all staff are clear on who is the safeguarding lead for the service, as set out in the safeguarding policy.
• Review the security arrangements for paper handwritten records and assess the issues that paper records present in terms of carrying out clinical audits and searches.
• Carry out peer reviews and record keeping checks to improve and maintain effective clinical oversight.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care