16/04/2019
During a routine inspection
Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
We rated this service 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 Index Medical Limited on 16 April 2019 as part of our inspection programme.
Index Medical Limited provides an online primary care consultation service and medicines
ordering service. Patients register for the service on the provider’s website.
At this inspection we found:
- There were comprehensive systems in place to check patient identity for safe prescribing.
- There were systems in place to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When they did happen, the service learned from them and improved their processes.
- The service had risk assessed conditions that could be treated by the service and information was shared with the patients’ own GP appropriately.
- There were checks and alerts in place to prevent misuse of the service and appropriate prescribing by GPs.
- The service routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care provided by conducting regular consultation audits. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines and appropriate medical records were kept.
- All patient data was encrypted and securely stored.
- Staff involved and treated people with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
- Patients could access care and treatment from the service within an appropriate timescale for their needs.
- There was evidence of continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.
We saw one area of outstanding practice:
- The provider had coordinated and collaborated with other providers to develop a risk-based identification verification standard, for all digital services. These standards were being fully implemented by Index Medical Limited and also included photographic identification for all patients under the age of 20.
The areas where the provider should make improvements are:
- Continue to develop consultation questionnaires in order that GPs have sight of information that may be necessary to support rationale for prescribing, specifically relating to contraception and travel health.
Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care