12 September 2023
During a routine inspection
This service is rated as Good overall.
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 Moorfields Private Eye Centre to follow up on breaches of regulations from our inspection in February 2022.
CQC inspected the service in February 2022 and asked the provider to make improvements regarding effective governance and auditing processes to enable the service to assess, monitor and mitigate the risks relating to the health, safety and welfare of service users and others who may be at risk. We checked these areas as part of this comprehensive inspection and found the provider made the required improvements.
The service offered ophthalmology (the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders) related healthcare services to fee-paying patients. The service was open to adults only. The service had recently undergone a transition from a mixed speciality private clinic which provided treatments to patients for dermatology conditions to only providing private patient services for ophthalmology.
The service manager 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.
Our key findings were:
- The service had clear systems and processes to keep people safe. This includes systems in respect of recruitment, infection prevention and control and medicine management.
- Information needed to deliver safe care and treatment was available and accessible to relevant staff in a timely manner.
- The service had reliable systems for the appropriate and safe handling of medicines.
- The service was able to provide evidence consultations of all doctors were undertaken in line with relevant national UK guidelines.
- Staff members had the skills, knowledge and experience to carry out their roles.
- Patients were treated with dignity and respect. Feedback from patient reviews reported staff were kind and caring and involved them as much as they wanted to be in the treatment of their care.
- The service was tailored to meet the needs of individual patients.
- The leadership, governance and culture at the service was used to drive and improve the personalised patient focused care the service provides.
- The service involved patients to support high-quality sustainable services.
- We saw evidence of systems and processes for learning, continuous improvement and innovation.
Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA
Chief Inspector of Hospitals and Interim Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services