Optimale Southampton Clinic

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 at Optimale Southampton Clinic on 24 October 2022. The service was registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in November 2020 and has not previously been inspected. We carried out this first rated inspection as part of our regulatory functions. The inspection was undertaken to check whether the service was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

Optimale is an independent men’s health company specialising in providing testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) to men in the UK. It also offers treatments for hair loss and erectile disfunction. The service is registered with the CQC to provide the regulated activity Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

Optimale’s managing director is the CQC registered manager. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the CQC 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 did not meet with patients for this inspection. However, the provider asked patients for feedback, using their survey template, on the day prior to the inspection, specifically to support the inspection process.

This survey resulted in159 responses and patients were asked to rate a range of questions between 1 and 5. Overall, the patients gave a score of 4.56 when asked how happy they were with the service.

Our key findings were:

• There were clear systems to keep people safe and safeguarded from abuse. The provider had systems for assessing and monitoring patient risks. Staff understood responsibilities to raise concerns and report incidents and near misses.
• Services met patients’ needs and followed the British Society for Sexual Medicine (BSSM) guidelines. There was a focus on monitoring the outcome of treatment on patients’ health and wellbeing.
• Staff were skilled and kept up to date in their specialist field. All staff were supported with their career development within the service.
• The provider listened to patient and staff comments and feedback from patients was consistently positive. The provider had undertaken detailed patient satisfaction surveys in 2021 and 2022 and feedback highlighted high levels of satisfaction with treatment, knowledge of staff and communications.
• Services were tailored to meet the needs of individual patients. Consultations were offered in a timely way, at times to suit patients. There was a range of advice from staff and from articles on the website to help patients make informed decisions about care and treatment.
• There was a culture of patient-centred care, learning and improvement. There was evidence of effective and compassionate leadership.

We saw the following outstanding practice:

• The provider was committed to improving systems and patient outcomes. It used audit, including clinical audit, to monitor the impact of treatment on patients’ health and wellbeing. It sought patient and staff feedback and acted in response to responses.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• The provider had oversight of safety alert updates but should keep a log to demonstrate and monitor any actions taken where necessary.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Hospitals and Interim Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services