Archived: Winchester Travel Health

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of Winchester Travel Health on 16 October 2018, to ask 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 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.

Winchester Travel Health is a private clinic providing travel health advice, travel and non-travel vaccines, blood tests for antibody screening and travel medicines such as anti-malarial medicines to children and adults. In addition, the clinic holds a licence to administer yellow fever vaccines, and provides other vaccines (such as chickenpox) that are not part of the UK vaccination program.

The location is registered with CQC in respect of the provision of advice or treatment by, or under the supervision of, a medical practitioner, including the prescribing of medicines for the purposes of travel health.

The clinic is registered with the Care Quality Commission under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 to provide the following regulated activities:

• Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

The lead nurse 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 registered manager has a Diploma in Travel Medicine, and other members of the clinical staff either teach in the field of travel health, or hold a foundation qualification in Travel Medicine.

As part of our inspection we asked for Care Quality Commission comment cards to be completed by service users prior to our inspection. We received 12 completed comment cards which were wholly positive about the standard of care received. Service users reported that staff were kind, knowledgeable, friendly, professional and caring. There were several comments relating to how informative the consultation process was.

Our key findings were:

• Care and treatment was planned and delivered in a way intended to ensure people's safety and welfare.
• The treatment room was well-organised and well-equipped.
• Clinicians regularly assessed clients according to appropriate guidance and standards, such as those issued by the National Travel Health Network and Centre.
• Staff were up to date with current guidelines.
• Staff maintained the necessary skills and competence to support the needs of service users.
• There were effective systems in place to check all equipment had been serviced regularly.
• The provider was aware of, and complied with, the requirements of the Duty of Candour.
• The provider had an effective system for ensuring the identity of people who used the service.
• Risks to service users were well-managed. For example, there were effective systems in place to reduce the risk and spread of infection.
• Service users were provided with information about their health and received advice and guidance to support them to live healthier lives.
• Information about how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• Systems and risk assessments were in place to deal with medical emergencies and staff were trained in basic life support.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGPChief Inspector of General Practice