The Care Quality Commission
  • Doctor
  • Independent doctor

Taymount Clinic Limited

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Taymount House, Works Road, Letchworth Garden City, SG6 1LB 0330 222 1622

Provided and run by:
Taymount Clinic Limited

All Inspections

During an assessment under our new approach

Taymount Clinic Limited is a private clinic that specialises in providing Faecal Microbiota Transplants (FMT). FMT also known as a stool transplant, is the process of transferring faecal bacteria and other microbes from a healthy individual into another individual. FMT involves the transfer of healthy bacteria in a mixture of prepared processed stools from a healthy donor to the intestine of the patient. The purpose of this treatment is to restore a healthy balance of bacteria in the gut. FMT can be used for the treatment of Clostridium difficile infection. The products used by Taymount Clinic Limited for FMT are supplied by their sister company, which is a separate legal entity regulated by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.

Taymount Clinic is in Letchworth Garden City in an area of medium deprivation. The lower the decile, the more deprived the practice population is relative to others.The clinic was open on Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm. There were 4 staff employed at the service, comprising of a managing director, a clinical director and 2 nutritionists.

Approximately 17 people were using the service at the time of our assessment. In 2024, the service had seen 150 people and 99 people in 2023. The service only saw people aged 18 and above.

We conducted this assessment as a follow-up to their previous CQC inspection in 2023. At our previous inspection, we had rated the service as requires improvement because:

  • Not all staff members had an adequate record of immunisation relevant to their role.
  • The service did not have a system or process in place for managing chaperoning.
  • The service did not have a documented risk assessment in place for not storing medicines used in an emergency.
  • There was no policy in place for the retention of medical records in accordance with national guidelines.
  • The service did not undertake clinical audits to assess the impact on quality of care and outcomes for patients.
  • There was no evidence that the service considered sharing information with a clients’ GP.
  • Some of the safety systems and processes in place required strengthening.
  • The service did not have clear responsibilities, roles and systems of accountability to support good governance and management in some areas.
  • The service did not routinely inform patients of any further action that may be available to them should they not be satisfied with the response to their complaint. The principles of Duty of Candour were not understood by all staff.
  • The business continuity plan was not up-to-date.

We assessed 3 quality statements across safe, effective and well-led key questions and have combined the scores for these areas with scores from the last inspection. At this assessment, we found that since the previous assessment, improvements had been made to the service. There was a strong focus on safety and saw managers had investigated concerns appropriately. Staff involved people in decisions about their care and treatment and supported them to ask questions. The provider had clear and effective governance systems, which staff regularly reviewed. Overall, we rated this service as good.

 

4 September 2023

During a routine inspection

This service is rated as Requires improvement overall.

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Requires improvement

Are services effective? – Requires improvement

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Requires improvement

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Taymount Clinic Limited on 4 September 2023 as part of our inspection programme. This is the first inspection of this service since registration.

Taymount Clinic Limited is a private clinic which specialises in providing Faecal Microbiota Transplant (FMT). FMT also known as a stool transplant, is the process of transferring fecal bacteria and other microbes from a healthy individual into another individual. FMT involves the transfer of healthy bacteria in a mixture of prepared processed stool from a healthy donor to the intestine of the patient. The purpose of this treatment is to restore a healthy balance of bacteria in the gut. FMT can be used for the treatment of Clostridioides difficile infection. The products used by Taymount Clinic Limited for FMT are supplied by their sister company, which is a separate legal entity regulated by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.

Taymount Clinic Limited is registered with the CQC under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 to provide the following 2 regulated activities:

  • diagnostic and screening procedures

  • treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

The provider has a registered manager in place. 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.

Our key findings were:

  • The service did not have clear systems to keep people safe and safeguarded from abuse across all areas.

  • There were systems in place for the management of significant events and incidents.

  • Risks to service users were assessed and managed, in most cases.

  • There were systems for reviewing and investigating when things went wrong.

  • Staff had the skills, knowledge and experience to carry out their roles.

  • The service obtained consent to care and treatment in line with legislation and guidance.

  • Clinicians helped service users to be involved in decisions about care and treatment.

  • Staff treated patients with kindness, respect and compassion.

  • Patients were able to access care and treatment from the service within an appropriate timescale for their needs.

  • The service did not undertake clinical audits to assess the impact on quality of care and outcomes for patients.

  • The service did not have clear responsibilities, roles and systems of accountability to support good governance and management across all areas.

We found breaches of regulations. The provider must:

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

The provider should:

  • Continue to embed staff understanding of the recently created safeguarding children policy.

  • Continue to implement improvements to the complaints procedure to ensure clients receive information on how they can access support from external bodies.

  • Embed the understanding of the duty of candour policy across all staff members.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Healthcare