Updated 4 March 2022
Medical Prime is a private GP service in central London offering services for adults and children. The service is led by a female GP with a special interest in women’s health, and primarily provides menopause care and treatment. All services are private and subject to payment of fees, with no NHS services provided.
The lead GP holds a postgraduate diploma in obstetrics and gynaecology and an advanced certificate in menopause care. As well as menopause treatment, Medical Prime provides private GP services including health and medical screening certificates, men’s health, women’s health, sexual health, blood tests, and referrals to diagnostic services.
The service is registered with CQC for the regulated activities of: Diagnostic and screening procedures; Maternity and midwifery services; and Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.
The services are offered on an appointment-only basis. The service is open for consultations from 9am to 6pm Monday to Friday. The service also offers occasional evening appointments until 7pm and Saturday appointments, on average every two months, depending on demand. Appointments can be booked by telephone or through the website.
The service is situated on the first floor of a mixed-use commercial building in the City of London. The service leases two consulting rooms and one reception area for patients. There are toilets located on the first floor. Access to the first floor is either via a lift or stairs, and there is disabled access to the building and a disabled toilet.
In terms of staff members, the lead GP has clinical and managerial responsibility for the service. The service has a contract in place with a clinic manager, who provides management and administrative support. There are contracted independent consultants working for the service; namely a pharmacist independent prescriber, a cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) therapist, and a nutritionist (although the latter two are not within scope of CQC regulation and in any event the nutritionist had not yet started seeing patients). There is also a small team of non-clinical staff members providing managerial, strategic and governance support.
The service has approximately 500 patients registered with it and sees approximately 50 patients per month.
How we inspected this service:
We reviewed information about the service in advance of our inspection visit. This included:
- Data and other information we held about the service;
- Material we requested and received directly from the service ahead of the inspection;
- Completed questionnaires from two of the independent consultants contracted to work for the service;
- Information available on the service’s website;
- Patient feedback and reviews accessible on public third-party websites.
During the inspection visit we:
- Spoke with the lead GP and Strategy Director.
- Reviewed policies, procedures, risk assessments, and patient records;
- Carried out checks and observations of the premises and equipment.
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.