Ultra Sports Clinic

Updated 11 December 2019

Ultra Sports Clinic is a multidisciplinary sports injury clinic which offers a comprehensive scanning, treatment and therapy service for children and adults. This service is registered with CQC under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 in respect of some, but not all, of the services it provides. The service provides ultrasound scans and steroid injections which are regulated activities, delivered by a consultant radiologist who is substantively employed by the NHS. The radiologist is contracted by the provider to deliver this service.

There are some exemptions from regulation by CQC which relate to particular types of regulated activities and services and these are set out in Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. Ultra Sports Clinic provides a range of non-surgical therapeutic and complimentary medicine treatments, including physiotherapy, chiropractic, sports therapy and biokinesis which are not within CQC scope of registration. Therefore, we did not inspect or report on these services.

Services are provided on a fee-paying basis only. No NHS funded treatment is available. More information can be found at: www.ultrasportsclinic.com

The service is located at 72 King William St, London EC4N 7HR. This is in central London and therefore access by car is challenging, however the service is well served by public transport. The service is situated on the basement level of an office building and is accessible by lift and stairs. The building also houses other businesses which are not connected with this service. The service leases five rooms on the floor which are used for physiotherapy, chiropractic and sports massage. These include a dedicated medical room which is used by the consultant radiologist to see and treat patients and a gym. There is also a reception area and bathroom facilities. The building is managed on a day to day basis by a management company.

The service’s opening hours are Monday to Friday 7.30am to 8pm. The service is closed on weekends.

The service is owned and operated by the lead physiotherapist who is also 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.

Support tasks are undertaken by a service manager and three administrative staff.

The service is registered with CQC to provide the following regulated activities: Treatment of disease, disorder or injury, Doctors consultation services, Diagnostic and/or screening procedures.

How we inspected this service

We carried out this inspection as a part of our comprehensive inspection programme of independent health providers and to follow up on regulatory breaches found during a previous inspection. Our inspection team was led by a CQC lead inspector, who was supported by a GP specialist adviser and a practice manager specialist adviser. The inspection was carried out on 31 October 2019. During the visit we:

• Spoke with the service owner and lead physiotherapist, consultant radiologist, another physiotherapist and the service manager.
• We did not speak with any patients as none were available on the day for the registered activity part of the service.
• Reviewed a sample of patient care and treatment records.

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 11 December 2019

CQC inspected the service on 24 September 2018. In line with CQC policy at the time, the service was not rated as a result of that inspection. We asked the provider to make improvements with regards to responding to emergencies, staff training and staff pre-employment checks. We also said the provider should review quality improvement activity and gathering feedback from people who use the service. We checked these areas as part of this comprehensive inspection on 31 October 2019 and found the regulations were now being met in respect of those matters.

At the inspection of 24 September 2018, we said the provider should continue with plans to review and improve quality monitoring and improvement activity and undertake formal patient feedback measures. At this inspection we still found limited quality monitoring due to the low number of patients seen. However, we found a patient survey was being undertaken, although the results were yet to be collated and reviewed.

Ultra Sports Clinic is a multidisciplinary Sports Injury Clinic which provides a range of services including physiotherapy, chiropractic, sports massage, strength and conditioning and radiology (ultrasound),

Feedback we received from patients who have used the service was positive. We received 57 completed comment cards. All were positive about the care and treatment they had received. We did not speak to any patients as none who had used the regulated part of the service were available at the time of the inspection.

Our key findings were :

• There was a system in place for acting on significant events.
• Risks associated with the premises and the delivery of care and treatment were well managed.
• There were arrangements in place to protect children and vulnerable adults from abuse. However we have said, whilst the risk was low as very few children attended the service and the regulated part of the service did not see children, the provider should review the level of child safeguarding training for the consultant radiologist.
• Care and treatment was provided in accordance with current guidelines.
• Patient feedback indicated that staff were compassionate, the care provided of a high standard and that it was easy to access appointments.
• The service had a system to receive and respond to complaints.
• There was a clear vision and strategy and staff spoke of an open and supportive culture. There was effective governance to ensure risks were addressed and patients were kept safe.

Whilst we did not find any breaches of the regulations, we have told the provider they should:

• Review the level of child safeguarding training for the consultant radiologist.
• Continue to review and improve quality monitoring and improvement activity in respect of the regulated activity.