The London Psychiatry Clinic

This service is rated as Good overall. (Never previously inspected before).

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 inspection at The London Psychiatry Clinic on 16 May and 17 May 2022 as part of our inspection programme. The provider has never been inspected before.

The London Psychiatry Clinic was registered in February 2021 and started providing clinical services in March 2021. The service provides a consultant-led outpatient service to assess and, if necessary, treat patients for a wide range of mental health and neurological conditions. The service provides neurology, psychology and psychiatry assessments and treatment.

The provider also works collaboratively with other expert providers (private and NHS) to provide multidisciplinary input for patients and their families.

This service is registered with CQC under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 in respect of some, but not all, of the services it provides. The London Psychiatry Clinic also provides a range of medicolegal services which are not within the scope of CQC registration. Therefore, we did not inspect or report on those services.

At the time of the inspection visit the location had a Registered Manager but they were on maternity leave. However, the newly appointed practice manager had submitted a Registered Manager application to CQC. 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 provider granted practicing privileges to or contracted with:

One neuropsychiatrist (the medical director)

Ten adult psychiatrists

Four child and adult psychiatrists

Five psychologists

One adult nutritionist

One adult mental health nurse

The service also had a practice manager, operations manager, finance manager, administrative team leader, business support and development lead, seven medical secretaries and three other administrative staff.

We reviewed patient feedback from website reviews and provided directly to the provider from patients via email.

Patients and carers we spoke with told us they found the service easy to access, responsive and that they were treated with kindness, dignity and respect throughout their treatment journey.

Our key findings were:

• Patients were supported respected and valued as individuals and were involved as partners in their care, practically and emotionally.
• The service was easy to access. Patients were able to access care and treatment within an appropriate timescale for their needs. The service took complaints and concerns seriously and responded to them appropriately to improve the quality of patient care.
• The service provided safe care. The service had clear systems to keep people safe and safeguarded from abuse. Staff appropriately assessed and managed risks to patient safety.
• The service controlled infection risk well. The premises were visibly clean.
• The service had enough staff with the right qualifications, skills, knowledge, training and experience to keep patients safe from avoidable harm and to provide the right care and treatment.
• Staff developed holistic care and treatment plans informed by a comprehensive assessment in collaboration with patients.
• Care and treatment was planned and delivered in line with current legislation and best practice guidance produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and met the needs of the patients.
• Leaders ensured that staff received training and appraisals. Staff worked well together for the benefit of patients.
• The service was well led, and the governance processes ensured that procedures relating to the service ran smoothly. There was a clear vision for improving the service and promoting good patient outcomes.
• The service had a robust audit programme which included audits on prescribing and clinical records. Audit outcomes were used to improve learning and patient experience.

However:

• The service did not have a robust system for checking clinicians’ professional references prior to commencing work with patients. There was an overreliance on senior consultants internally to provide references for new clinicians rather than obtaining an independent reference from a previous employer.

We saw the following outstanding practice:

• The service had recently contracted an adult mental health nurse who was able to work directly with patients alongside the clinician to prevent admission to or support discharge from hospital.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• The service should implement a robust system to ensure that the appropriate checks on new and current employees are carried out and stored safely where they can be easily accessed and updated as needed.

Jemima Burnage

Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals