Archived: Paddington

Updated 9 May 2018

Paddington is one of nine central London locations where the registered provider, London Doctors Clinic Ltd, provides private doctor treatments and consultations services. Other locations can be found at: Fleet Street, Kings Cross, Liverpool Street, London Bridge, Soho Square, Victoria and Waterloo; though none of these locations were visited as part of this inspection.

The provider’s Paddington location is in a serviced office building at 20 Eastbourne Terrace, Paddington, London W2 6LE. and is adjacent to Paddington rail station. The practice rents a consultation room and a reception area in the office building. The service is open from 9 am to 5.30 pm.

London Doctors Clinic Ltd is CQC registered to provide the regulated activities of Treatment of disease, disorder or injury, Diagnostic and screening procedures and Maternity and midwifery services.

The only clinical staff employed at the service were GPs. All clinical staff employed had previous experience working within the NHS. Patients could book appointments on the same day or up to a week in advance. The provider told us that 66% of their patients were aged 22 – 44. Forty percent of the patients attending were for minor illnesses and 60% were for notarising services (legal certification of fitness, such as required for certain occupations and activities). The provider said that 25% of patients returned to the service.

The service did not manage patients with long term conditions or immunisations for travel or childhood immunisations.

The inspection was undertaken on 27 February 2018. The inspection team was composed of a lead CQC inspector, a GP specialist advisor and a practice nurse specialist advisor.

Prior to the inspection we reviewed information requested from the provider about the service they were providing.

During the inspection we spoke with the GP, the clinical services manager, and the founder and CEO of the service. We also analysed documentation, undertook observations and reviewed completed CQC comment cards.

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 9 May 2018

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 27 February 2018 to ask the service the following key questions; Are services safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led?

Our findings were:

Are services safe?

We found that this service was providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services effective?

We found that this service was providing effective care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services caring?

We found that this service was providing caring services in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services responsive?

We found that this service was providing responsive care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services well-led?

We found that this service was providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

We carried out this inspection 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.

This service provides private doctor consultations and treatment services.

The Chief Executive Officer of London Doctors Clinic Ltd 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.

Three people provided feedback about the service, and their comments were mostly complementary about the service, care and treatment and staff.

Our key findings were:

• There were systems in place for acting on significant events and complaints.
• There were systems in place to assess, monitor and manage risks to the premises and patient safety
• There were arrangements in place to protect children and vulnerable adults from abuse.
• Staff had received essential training and adequate recruitment and monitoring information was held for all staff.
• Care and treatment was provided in accordance with current guidelines.
• Patient feedback indicated that staff were caring and appointments were easily accessible.
• There was a clear vision and strategy and an open and supportive culture.

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

• Review their protocols so that parental authority wasgainedfor children and minorsattending theservice.
• Review their arrangements for responding to clinical audit findings