The Care Quality Commission
  • Doctor
  • Independent doctor

Archived: London Bioidentical Hormones

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

3rd Floor, 4 Harley Street, London, W1G 9PB (020) 3303 0237

Provided and run by:
Lolavista Limited

Important: This service was previously registered at a different address - see old profile
Important: This service is now registered at a different address - see new profile

All Inspections

23 September 2021

During a routine inspection

This service is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspection 7 February 2019 – we found that the service was not providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations. We issued a requirement notice for Regulation 12 Health and Social Care Act 2008, Regulations 2014 Safe care and treatment.

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of London Bioidentical Hormones on 23 September 2021. 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.

London Bioidentical Hormones is an independent service, which provides a range of bespoke healthcare treatments to adults and specialises in individualised bioidentical hormone replacement therapy and functional medicine for women. The principal GP 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.

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. 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. London Bioidentical Hormones Limited provides nutritional therapy which is not within CQC’s scope of registration. Therefore, we did not inspect or report on this service.

Our key findings were:

  • There was evidence of quality improvement activity including clinical audit.
  • The provider had a clear vision to provide a safe and high-quality service.
  • Appointments were available on a pre-bookable basis. The service provided consultations via video and telephone calls.
  • The service had proactively gathered and acted on feedback from their patients.
  • Information about the service and how to complain was provided to patients.
  • Recruitment checks were carried out appropriately and the provider monitored the training of staff associated with the service.
  • Consent procedures were in place and these were in line with legal requirements.
  • The provider had access to interpretation services for patients whos first language was not English.
  • Systems were in place to protect patients’ personal information. • Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
  • The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the Duty of Candour.
  • Thirty-three people provided feedback about the service. Thirty-one were wholly positive about the care and treatment offered by the service. They were satisfied with the standard of care received and thought the principal GP was approachable, committed and caring. Two of the 33 were pleased with the care and treatment they received; however, they also made a complaint. One person mentioned the cost of consultations being too high, and the other stated they felt rushed during consultations.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

  • Update the service’s prescribing policy to include medication which should not be prescribed.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care

7 February 2019

During a routine inspection

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 7 February 2019 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 not 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.

London Bioidentical Hormones is an independent clinic in central London, which provides a range of bespoke healthcare service to adults and specialises in individualised bioidentical hormone replacement therapy and functional medicine for women.

The principal GP 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.

Six people provided feedback about the service, which was positive about the care and treatment offered by the service. They were satisfied with the standard of care received and thought the principal GP was approachable, committed and caring. They said the staff were helpful and treated them with dignity and respect.

Our key findings were:

  • The service had specialised in individualised bioidentical hormone replacement therapy and functional medicine for women. Patients were treated with unlicensed compounded medicines and systems were in place to ensure this was carried out safely.
  • There was evidence of quality improvement activity including clinical audit.
  • Consultations were comprehensive and undertaken in a professional manner.
  • Consent procedures were in place and these were in line with legal requirements.
  • There was an infection prevention and control policy and procedures were in place to reduce the risk and spread of infection.
  • The service was unable to demonstrate they had adequate health and safety arrangements in place to ensure fire safety and management of legionella in the premises.
  • The service had not carried out a risk assessment or developed a service specific fire evacuation plan to identify how staff could support patients with mobility problems to vacate the premises.
  • All emergency medicines were not available in the service and there was no formal documented risk assessment as to why they were not required.
  • Appointments were available on a pre-bookable basis. The service provided consultations face to face, via telephone and video calls. All initial consultations were face to face.
  • The service had proactively gathered feedback from the patients.
  • Information about services and how to complain was available.
  • The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the Duty of Candour.

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

  • Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients.

You can see full details of the regulations not being met at the end of this report.

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

  • Carry out more frequent checks to assure medical oxygen and a defibrillator are fit to use and maintain written records of these checks.
  • Consider how to improve access to patients with hearing difficulties.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care