Spa Private Medical

Updated 26 July 2021

Spa Private Medical is an independent GP led service operated by S.V.Pierini & Co Limited. Services are provided at 31 New Barn Lane, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL52 3LB and a link to the provider’s website is below:

www.spaprivatemedical.co.uk

The service places an emphasis on preventative medicine and lifestyle advice for both adults and children. It caters for both acute and on-going health problems and operates from a detached former residential building with ample facilities and car parking. The premises are fully accessible to all patients with services provided on the ground and first floors. If any patients have mobility issues then they can be seen on the ground floor.

The service is provided by a lead GP, supported by three other GPs, two part-time practice nurses and two part-time practice managers. The service offered pre-bookable telephone and face-to-face consultations for adults and children.

The service is open Monday to Thursday from 8:30am to 5:30pm and on Friday from 8:30am to 6pm.

Patients could access appointments on Monday between 9am and 4:30pm; on Tuesday between 9am and 2pm; on Wednesday between 9:15am and 5pm; on Thursday between 9:30am and midday and on Friday between 8:30 and 11:30, and 1pm and 5:15pm.

Outside these hours calls were diverted to the lead GPs mobile phone.

How we inspected this service

Pre-inspection information was gathered and reviewed before the inspection. On the day of the inspection we spoke with the lead GP and both practice managers. We also reviewed a wide range of documentary evidence including policies, written protocols and guidelines, recruitment and training records, significant events, and patient survey results.

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 26 July 2021

This service is rated as Good overall.

This service was registered by the CQC on 5 March 2019 and this is the first time it has been inspected and rated.

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 at Spa Private Medical on 3 June 2021 as part of our inspection programme as the service had not previously been inspected.

Spa Private Medical is registered under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 to provide the following regulated activities:

• Diagnostic and screening procedures
• Family planning services
• Surgical procedures
• Treatment of disease, disorder or injury

Spa Private Medical is an independent GP led service with an emphasis on preventative medicine and lifestyle advice for both adults and children. It caters for both acute and on-going health problems and operates from a detached former residential building with ample facilities and car parking.

The service is managed on a day to day basis by two practice managers and the provider who is both the nominated individual and 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.

Due to the current pandemic we were unable to obtain comments from patients via our normal process of asking the provider to place comment cards within the service location. However, we saw from internal surveys and reviews on social media that patients were consistently positive about the service, describing staff as professional, kind, polite, non-judgemental and caring. Patients also commented on the service being well maintained and clean. We did not speak with patients on the day, as there were none attending for regulated activities.

Our key findings were:

• The service had safety systems and processes in place to keep people safe. There were systems to identify, monitor and manage risks and to learn from incidents.
• There were regular reviews of the effectiveness of treatments, services, and procedures to ensure care and treatment was delivered in line with evidence-based guidelines.
• Staff treated patients with compassion, respect and kindness and involved them in decisions about their care.
• There were systems in place to safeguard children and vulnerable adults from abuse and staff we spoke with knew how to identify and report safeguarding concerns. All staff had been trained to a level appropriate to their role.
• The service had systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the service learned from them and improved their processes.
• Clinical staff we spoke with were aware of current evidence-based guidance and they had the skills, knowledge and experience to carry out their roles.
• There was evidence of quality improvement, including clinical audit.
• Consent procedures were followed and these were in line with legal requirements.
• Staff we spoke with were aware of their responsibility to respect people’s diversity and human rights.
• Systems were in place to protect personal information about patients. The service was registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
• Patients were able to access care and treatment from the clinic within an appropriate timescale for their needs.
• Information about services and how to complain was available.
• The service had proactively gathered feedback from patients.
• Governance arrangements were in place. There were clear responsibilities, roles and systems of accountability to support good governance and management.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, face to face basic life support training had not been completed during the last 12 months. The provider should arrange this as soon as possible once restrictions allow.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care