Archived: Messina Clinic Limited

Updated 13 August 2019

The registered provider of the service is Messina Clinic Limited, which is an independent provider of medical services to the Brazilian community from its sole location at 14-16 Dowgate Hill, London EC4R 2SU. We visited this location as part of the inspection.

The service provides general practice and cosmetic treatments which are available to any fee-paying patient. The service sees children aged 12 and older; however almost all patients are adults. There are approximately 5,000 patients currently registered with the service. The service sees approximately 40 patients per week. Some patients travel from all parts of the UK, and the service has seen patients who have been visiting from overseas. Most patients are not registered with an NHS GP.

The service’s staff consists of two doctors, one full-time service manager and one part-time administrator/receptionist. No locums or agency staff are used.

The service is open from 9am until 6pm on Mondays to Fridays, and on some Saturdays from 9am to 1pm (depending on patient demand). All services are provided at the Dowgate Hill clinic and home visits, telephone consultations and online appointments are not currently available.

The service is located on the lower ground floor of a leased building which is wheelchair accessible by lift. A number of tube stations are close by.

The service website address is: http://www.messinaclinic.co.uk/en/index.php. The full website is available in English or Portuguese.

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.
• Information available on the service’s website.
• Patient feedback and reviews accessible on various websites.

During the inspection visit we undertook a range of approaches. This included interviewing clinical and non-clinical staff, reviewing feedback from patients who had used the service, reviewing documents, examining electronic systems, and assessing the building 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.

Updated 13 August 2019

This service is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspections 7 February 2018 and 18 April 2018.)

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 Messina Clinic on 18 June 2019 as part of our current inspection programme. We previously inspected this service on 7 February 2018 and 18 April 2018 using our previous methodology, where we did not apply ratings.

As a result of our findings following the February 2018 inspection we issued a warning notice for Regulation 12 (Safe care and treatment) and Regulation 17 (Good governance). As a result of our April 2018 inspection we found the service had made improvements and had met the relevant legal requirements.

Messina Clinic Limited is an independent GP service which provides private general medicine services to the Brazilian community. It is based in the London Borough of City and Hackney.

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. There are some exemptions from regulation by CQC which relate to particular types of regulated activities and services and these are set out in Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. Messina Clinic Limited provides a range of non-surgical cosmetic interventions, for example sclerotherapy(non-surgical treatment of damaged veins), which are not within CQC scope of registration. Therefore, we did not inspect or report on these services.

The lead doctor 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.

We received nine completed CQC comment cards which were all positive about the service. Patients commented that the doctors were very knowledgeable and helpful; and that the environment was clean and comfortable.

Our key findings were:

• The service provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and a system in place for recording, reporting and learning from significant events and incidents. The service had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents happened, the service learned from them and reviewed their processes to implement improvements.
• There were clearly defined and embedded systems, processes and practices to keep people safe and safeguarded from abuse, and for identifying and mitigating risks of health and safety.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• The service organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs. Patients said that they could access care and treatment in a timely way.
• The service reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence-based guidelines and best practice.
• Patients told us that all staff treated them with kindness and respect and that they felt involved in discussions about their treatment options.
• Doctors had the appropriate skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care