Boots Online Doctor

Updated 23 December 2021

Background

The provider registered with CQC in June 2021 to provide the regulated activity of treatment of disease, disorder or injury. The service prescribes medicines under the brand of a nationwide pharmacy. Their prescribing is undertaken by UK registered clinicians with the expertise to assess patients’ needs remotely and ensure the medicines they choose to prescribe are appropriate. They do not stock or dispense medicines themselves.

How we inspected this service

Before the inspection we gathered and reviewed information we requested from the provider in advance. During this inspection we spoke to the Registered Manager, the clinical lead and other members of the leadership team. We also spoke with a prescribing clinician who works at the service. We requested patient feedback via the provider but no patients contacted CQC. We visited the location listed on the provider’s registration certificate as part of the inspection.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we 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 23 December 2021

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 Lemonaid Health HQ on 19 November 2021. This inspection took place as the provider registered with CQC to provide regulated activities in June 2021. This inspection was to assess whether they were meeting the requirements set out in regulations and to provide a rating of the service.

The service provides online doctor (or online medical consultation) services through a pharmacy-branded website. Patients can indicate their needs and these were considered by UK-based clinicians. If prescriptions were issued, they were electronically transmitted to a network of UK pharmacies. Patients could choose the pharmacy where they want to collect their medicines or request delivery by post. If tests were issued, they were delivered by post. Patients who had a medical emergency were advised to ask for immediate medical help via 999 or if appropriate to contact their own GP or NHS 111.

At this inspection we found:

• The service had good systems 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 routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence-based guidelines.
• 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 a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement.
• The service design carefully considered how provided information to people about their care and treatment.

We saw one area of outstanding practice:

The provider designed their own clinical system to ensure it was bespoke to their service requirements and considered how it would meet the requirements of the patients they provided care to. This meant that assessments and the recording of patient information was according to the exact requirements of the treatments delivered. The system enabled clinicians to provide extensive information to patients at the point of providing prescriptions via videos and written information. The videos enabled information to be communicated in a personal format.

Action the provider should take:

• Implement and embed changes proposed as a result of the inspection findings including; processes for when GP letters are returned and providing additional information to patients regarding one potential risk identified.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care