The GP Clinic London

Updated 7 April 2023

The GP Clinic London is an independent primary healthcare service which is located at 25 Harley Street, London, W1G 9QW. The service offers consultations with a GP with onward referral for diagnostic and specialist assessment as appropriate. The service has a focus on preventative care.

The GP has contracted with the landlord (specialising in the provision of clinical facilities and part of a separate registered healthcare provider group) for consulting space which is currently located on the first floor of the building. The service is accessible to patients with mobility issues.

The service is run by an individual provider (male) who is currently the sole practicing GP. The service does not yet employ any other staff although it was in the process of recruiting a service manager at the time of the inspection. The service has access to reception and nursing staff (who are trained on chaperoning) and an on-call emergency medical service in the building by arrangement with the landlord. The GP is listed on the GMC GP register.

The service is open to patients of any age although currently most patients are adults. The service provides primary care services including consultations for acute or longer-term conditions; health screening; contraceptive advice; travel health; and childhood immunisations. The GP can refer patients for blood testing and other diagnostic testing on site or in the locality. Most patients are seen on the premises or by telephone or video consultation as preferred and clinically appropriate. The GP offers home or hotel visits.

Patients can self-refer to the service and book appointments by telephone or online. Patients pay per chargeable activity or on a ‘membership’ basis which provides a tailored package of services for an annual fee.

The GP contracts with an independent primary care on-call service to provide out-of-hours cover when the service is not open. The GP personally provides 24-hour cover for patients with membership. The service provides clear information for patients about what to do if they experience a serious medical emergency, that is, immediately attend A&E or call an ambulance.

The GP also offers occupational health services which fall outside the scope of regulation and were not covered in the inspection.

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

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. We used the following methods to inspect the GP service:

• We carried out an announced site visit on 2 March to inspect the environment, facilities and interview the GP
• During the visit we also reviewed a sample of clinical records
• We reviewed documentary evidence supplied by the service during and following the visit
• We reviewed publicly available information for example, on the service’s website.

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 7 April 2023

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 of The GP Clinic London as part of our inspection programme. The GP Clinic London provides consultations with an independent GP. Services include primary care consultations, health screening and access to diagnostic testing and specialist referral as required. The service is open to patients of any age. The GP Clinic London has not previously been inspected.

Our key findings were:

• The service had clear systems in place to safeguard patients at risk of abuse or neglect.
• Patients’ immediate and ongoing needs were fully assessed.
• Care records were written and managed in a way that kept patients safe.
• Patients were treated with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• The service actively sought and acted on feedback from patients using the GP service to improve the service. We saw evidence of positive feedback from patients.
• The service used information about care and treatment to make improvements and introduce innovation.
• The service was accessible. Patients were able to consult with a GP within an appropriate timescale for their needs.
• The GP service was underpinned by clear systems of governance and processes for managing risk, issues and performance.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Document the rationale for not holding opiate medicines on the premises for use in an emergency.
• Update the prescribing policy to specify which higher risk medicines would not be prescribed without that information being shared with the patient’s NHS GP.
• Review measures to obtain more focused patient feedback and data on the outcomes of clinical care.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

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