London ENT Clinic

Updated 11 May 2022

The London ENT Clinic is an independent health service offering diagnosis and treatment for ear, nose and throat (ENT) conditions and rhinoplasty. The service is only available to patients over 18. The clinic is located on the second floor, 51 Harley Street, London, W1G 8QQ in rooms purposely adapted for clinical use.

The clinic is used for outpatient consultations with the specialist ENT surgeon who provides the service. They employ a health care assistant and an administrator. Surgical procedures are carried out at a private hospital in London and fall outside the scope of this inspection.

Patients can self-refer or may be referred by another clinician. The service is available by appointment only. The office is open from 9am to 6pm from Monday to Friday with consultations available on various days of the week including the weekend. Where clinically appropriate, consultations may be carried out over the telephone. All new patients complete a registration form and are seen face-to-face.

The service is located in an older building but is reasonably accessible with lift access to the second floor.

The service has been registered with CQC since 2015 and provides the regulated activities of:

• diagnostic and screening procedures
• treatment of disease, illness or injury.

How we inspected this service

Evidence was gathered through a review of policy documents and records kept by the service; clinician and staff interviews; and a review of patient feedback and reviews. The inspection team visited the service and observed the facilities. No patients were present at the service during the inspection.

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?

Updated 11 May 2022

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 the London ENT Clinic as part of our inspection programme. We have not previously carried out an inspection of this service.

The London ENT Clinic is an independent health service offering diagnosis and treatment for ear, nose and throat (ENT) conditions to adult patients.

The lead clinician 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.

Our key findings were:

• The service provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• The clinicians and staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and were committed to involving people in decisions about their care.
• The service adjusted how it delivered services to meet the needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
• The way the service was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centred care.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• The prescribing policy should more clearly reflect prescribing practice in the service, for example, setting out the types of medicines that can and cannot be prescribed.
• The service should risk assess the range of emergency medicines that it is appropriate to keep in stock at the clinic.
• The service should have access to the results of relevant premises risk assessments promptly and follow-up any actions required with the landlord.
• The lead clinician should consider completing training about their responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act (2005).
• The service should consider documenting existing ‘buddy’ arrangements with other professionals so these are clear to all parties.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care