Updated 13 December 2021
Notting Hill Private Medical Practice Limited is an independent provider of medical services and treats both adults and children. Notting Hill Private Medical Practice Limited is registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide the regulated activities diagnostic and screening procedures, family planning services, and treatment of disease, disorder or injury. Regulated activities are provided at one location, The Portobello Clinic, 12 Raddington Road, London W10 5TG. The website address is www.portobelloclinic.com. Regulated services offered at The Portobello Clinic include general medical consultations and treatment and psychiatric consultations and treatment.
The organisation is run by two directors who are GPs. One of the directors is the CQC Registered Manager and the second director is the CQC Nominated Individual for the provider. The service is housed within a converted residential premise across four floors. There is a pharmacy store located within the clinic premises, which is not operated by the provider. The premises include a patient waiting area, four doctors’ consultation rooms, and two treatment rooms. There are six other rooms used for a range of other services including psychological therapies, reflexology, acupuncture and podiatry that are exempt from CQC regulation and as such were not inspected or reported on.
Opening hours are Monday to Friday 8.30am to 5.30pm. Out-of-hours services are provided by the contracted out of hours provider between 5.30pm and 8.30am Monday to Friday, and at weekends. Home visits are offered to patients with restricted mobility who are unable to access the premises. These are offered at no extra cost to the patient and have been offered in recognition that the premises are not fully accessible to those with mobility impairments.
The clinic has been established for over 40 years. The clinic has approximately 2000 registered patients. There are approximately 600 GP appointments per month and 20 psychiatrist appointments per month. The clinic staff consists of four GPs, three who are full-time and one who is part-time; a manager, two medical secretaries, three receptionists, one billing administrator and a housekeeper. The clinic contracts a consultant psychiatrist via a practising privilege contract, and independent psychotherapists and other therapy staff who are self-employed and work on an occasional basis.
How we inspected this service
- Prior to the inspection, information was requested from the provider and reviewed by the inspection team.
- Feedback from staff was gathered via meeting online and questionnaires.
- A site visit was carried out, where we spoke with clinical and non-clinical staff, and reviewed patients records and the service documents.
- During our visit we made observations of the environment looked at the systems in place for the running of the service.
- We viewed a sample of key policies and procedures and explored how clinical decisions were made.
- We reviewed feedback from patients.
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.