16/08/2019
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 Victoria as part of our inspection programme. Victoria is part of The London Travel Clinic which provides travel immunisations, treatment and advice to fee paying patients.
We had previously inspected this service as part of our unrated programme of independent health inspections. At our last inspection undertaken on 20 August 2018 we found that the service was in breach of regulation 12 (safe care and treatment) and regulation 17 (good governance) of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. At that inspection we found that the provider had not adequately mitigated risks associated with infection control and fire safety and the service had not assessed the need for all emergency medicines. In addition we found that there was no ongoing quality improvement activity programme, there was no mechanism in place to review and act on patient feedback and the business continuity plan, medicines policy and policies related to information governance were not specific to the site.
At this inspection we found that these concerns had been resolved.
The clinical nurse lead for the service 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.
One patient provided feedback to CQC about the service. The patient said that the treatment provided was quick and efficient and that their needs were met.
Our key findings were:
- The provider had systems in place in relation to safeguarding.
- Risks were adequately assessed, addressed or mitigated.
- Appropriate emergency equipment was available on site and staff knew what to do if a patient presented with symptoms of sepsis.
- There were systems in place to report and discuss significant events.
- Medicines were appropriately managed and there were systems in place to respond to safety alerts.
- Care and treatment provided was effective and met patient needs.
- There were systems to review consultations, feedback to staff and implement improvements where needed.
- Feedback from patients was positive about access to treatment and the care provided and there was a system for managing complaints.
- Services were designed to respond to the needs of patients.
- Leadership was visible and staff said that they felt happy to raise concerns or issues that arose.
- Governance systems were present in most areas although there were some instances where the provider did not have effective systems in place to oversee risk.
The areas where the provider should make improvements are:
- Consider ways to better accommodate patients with accessibility needs.
- Include details of all staff working at the site in the business continuity plan.
Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care