Archived: Komao Medical

Updated 8 December 2021

Komao Medical is an independent provider of hair transplant surgery and GP services.

Komao Medical have a clinic based in Shepherds Bush:

St Stephens House

41 Uxbridge Road

London

W12 8LH

Information about the service can be found at: www.komao.org.uk

Komao is registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide the regulated activities treatment of disease, disorder or injury, surgical procedures and diagnostic and screening.

All treatments and consultations are performed by Dr Aman Sharma.

The service also offers the following which are not covered under the scope of our registration and as such were not inspected or reported on:

• Anti-wrinkle Botox injectables

Dr Aman Sharma 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.

The service working hours are 09:00am to 17:00pm Monday to Friday, and 10:00am to 13:00pm on Saturday, however patients could email the service 24 hours a day.

At the time of our inspection, the GP was the sole staff member associated with the delivery of the regulated activities and providing the patient-facing element of the service.

How we inspected this service

Prior to our inspection, a ‘Provider Information Return’ was received from the service and reviewed. We collated client feedback received by the service, interviewed staff and reviewed documentation.

During our visit we:

• Spoke with the Registered Manager for the service.

• Looked at the systems in place for the running of the service.

• Viewed a sample of key policies and procedures.

• Explored how clinical decisions were made.

• Viewed four patient records.

• Made observations of the clinic treatment rooms.

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 8 December 2021

This service is rated as Good overall.

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 Komao Medical as part of our inspection programme. This was the first inspection of this service after the provider had registered with the CQC in March 2019.

Komao provide hair transplant surgery and private GP services. 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. Komao provides non-surgical cosmetic interventions, for example, anti-wrinkle treatments which are not within CQC scope of registration. Therefore, we did not inspect or report on these services.

The owner and 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.

We reviewed feedback the service received from two patients. Both patients rated the service as ‘Excellent’ with five out of five stars.

Our key findings were:

The service had not been previously inspected as having been registered March 2019. Despite the reduced regulated activity as a result of the pandemic, we found the following areas of good practice:

• The service had clinical staff with the right qualifications, skills, training and experience to keep patients safe from avoidable harm and to provide the right treatment.

• The service controlled infection risk well. Staff kept themselves, equipment and the treatment rooms clean.

• Systems for the management of emergency medicines and emergency equipment, were operating effectively.

• Staff we spoke with told us how they would care for a patient in a respectful and kind manner.

• The service involved patients in decisions about their care and treatment and took into account their individual needs.

• The service encouraged feedback from patients. Staff encouraged patients to leave an online review or complete a handwritten survey and these were used to monitor performance.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Formalise a ‘Medicines Management’ policy.

• Provide information for patients on the service website about how to raise concerns or make a complaint.

• Formalise arrangements for the handling of patient information in the event of the service ceasing to trade.

• Formalise a business strategy and develop supporting business plans to achieve service priorities.

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