Polscy Lekarze Polish Doctors

Updated 8 January 2018

This inspection was carried out on 24 November 2017 by a lead CQC inspector, a GP specialist advisor and a nurse specialist advisor. The inspection team was accompanied by a Polish translator.

Prior to inspection the service provider sent us information about the service which we reviewed as part of the inspection process.

We asked for CQC patient comment cards to be completed by providing these four weeks in advance of the inspection. However, the few patients that had attended since the comment cards were made available chose not to complete them. There were no patients present on the day of inspection and patients who had recently attended the clinic declined to speak with us.

During the inspection we reviewed policies and procedures relevant to management of the service, the GP advisor reviewed medical records to confirm treatment was recorded in line with best practice and we spoke to staff involved in the provision of the service.

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.

Updated 8 January 2018

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 24 November 2017 to ask the service the following key questions; Are services safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led?

Our findings were:

Are services safe?

We found that this service was providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services effective?

We found that this service was providing effective care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services caring?

We found that this service was providing caring services in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services responsive?

We found that this service was providing responsive care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services well-led?

We found that this service was providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Background

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the practice was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Polscy Lekarze Polish Doctors is a small service located on the first floor of premises close to Slough town centre. The private consultation service is available to people who either live in the Slough area or wish to travel to the clinic to receive treatment. Over 90% of the people who attend the clinic are Polish. Staff at the clinic all speak Polish. At the time of our inspection in November 2017, there was one Gynaecologist, providing clinics that are held only once or twice a month. The service had been attended for fewer than 100 consultations in the last year.

The dentist from the service located in the same premises and employed by the service proprietor is the registered manager. 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 service provided at the time of inspection was limited to Saturday clinics held on one or two occasions each month. There were no patients present on inspection day. The patients that had attended in the last month had not completed CQC comment cards and had declined to speak with us. The provider showed us their last patient satisfaction survey of 10 patients. This identified high levels of satisfaction in both accessing the service and the care and attention patients received from staff.

Our key findings were:

• Appropriate systems were in place to identify, assess and manage risk.
• Patient feedback from the service’s satisfaction survey was consistently positive.
• The clinician maintained an up to date knowledge in their specialism and undertook relevant training and revalidation.
• Governance arrangements ensured policies and procedures relevant to the management of the service were kept under review.
• There were systems in place to respond to incidents and complaints.
• The service could be contacted six days a week from 9.30am until 8pm.