Dr Hedley Berry's Practice

Updated 2 September 2022

Dr H W Berry is an independent health service which operates out of 66 Harley Street, London, W1G 7HY, on the ground floor of a building which also houses several other consulting rooms and services. The service consists of Dr H W Berry, who is a consultant rheumatologist, with experience in diagnosing and treating arthritis and other diseases of the musculo-skeletal system. The service employs a practice business manager and line manager. There is a reception at the entrance on the building and reception staff are employed by the owner of the building. The service is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9am to 5pm and provides an ad hoc out of hours service. Appointments can be booked by contacting the service by telephone or email. Consultations are available in person, telephone or by video. The service treats below 50 patients a month.

The provider, Hedley Winston Berry, is registered with the CQC to provide the following regulated activities: diagnostic and screening procedures; and treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

How we inspected this service

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site. This was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements.

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 2 September 2022

This service is rated as Requires improvement overall.

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Requires improvement

Are services effective? – Requires improvement

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive – Good

Are services well-led - Requires improvement

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of Dr H W Berry on 30 June 2022 as part of our inspection programme.

Dr H W Berry is a specialist in rheumatology. The service provides a diagnostic and continuing care programme, and offers mobile and walk-in services for adult only patients (patients over the age of 18). The service is based in Harley Street, London.

Our key findings were:

• We found that some staff had not completed some training, including the appropriate level of safeguarding training and chaperone training. The system for oversight of staff training was not sufficient.
• We found that the practice had a governance framework, however, it was not always effectively managing risks. This included the risks associated with management of medical emergencies on the premises.
• We found that the practice did not have a comprehensive patient identification procedure.
• We did not see evidence of any clinical audits that had been undertaken which identified areas for improvement or evidence of other quality improvement activity.
• Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• The service actively sought and acted on feedback from patients to improve services.

The areas where the provider must make improvements as they are in breach of regulations are:

• Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients.
• Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.

In addition to the above, the practice should:

• Improve the process for patient identification.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Hospitals and Interim Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services