Archived: Healthsteer Limited

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We rated this service as Inadequate overall.

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Inadequate

Are services effective? – Inadequate

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Requires improvement

Are services well-led? – Inadequate

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Healthsteer Limited on 13 August 2021 as part of our inspection programme.

Healthsteer Limited is an online GP consulting service. Patients access the service by completing an online form and choose a time for their video/telephone consultation with a GP.

At this inspection we found:

• The service did not have effective systems to manage risks. There was a lack of clear systems for managing incidents, patient safety alerts and complaints to support learning and improvement and mitigate future risks.
• The practice had policies and procedures in place but these were not always service specific, and what we were told was happening was not always evident in the records seen.
• Staff training required by the provider had not been identified or monitored to ensure staff had received that which was relevant and up to date.
• The provider did not have effective systems in place for ensuring safe prescribing or for the sharing of information about consultations with the patients GP where it is in the interests of patient safety to do so.
• The provider did not have effective quality assurance processes in pace to assess the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided.
• Staff treated people with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• Patients could access care and treatment from the service within an appropriate timescale for their needs
• There were effective processes for confirming the identity of patients they consulted with.

The areas where the provider must make improvements as they are in breach of regulations are:

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

• Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.

I am placing this service in special measures. Services placed in special measures will be inspected again within six months. If insufficient improvements have been made such that there remains a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures to begin the process of preventing the provider from operating the service. This will lead to cancelling their registration or to varying the terms of their registration within six months if they do not improve.

The service will be kept under review and if needed could be escalated to urgent enforcement action. Where necessary, another inspection will be conducted within a further six months, and if there is not enough improvement we will move to close the service by adopting our proposal to remove this location or cancel the provider’s registration.

Special measures will give people who use the service the reassurance that the care they get should improve.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care