Updated 30 April 2018
75 Wimpole Street operates under the provider Dr Sharma Diagnostics Limited. The provider is registered with the Care Quality Commission to carry on the regulated activity of treatment of disease, disorder or injury. The location site address that we visited as a part of our inspection is The Basement Clinic, 10A Upper Wimpole Street London W1G 6LL, where the provider rented a room from the nursing service.
Dr Rajendra Sharma 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. This service is made up of one doctor, a manager and a receptionist.
The service is open on Tuesdays between 1.30pm and 5pm and Wednesdays between 9am and 5pm, where the doctor carries out nine sessions per month. Services provided are homeopathy and complimentary medicine. Examples of the types of disorders the service treats are chronic fatigue, hormone imbalance, hypothyroidism and vitamin D deficiency.
The service has approximately 1000 active patients and takes on between 100 to 150 new patients each year. The service refers patients to the NHS or private services including those outside of the UK where necessary.
Prior to the inspection we reviewed information requested from the provider about the service they were providing. The inspection was undertaken on 29 March 2018 and the inspection team was led by a lead CQC inspector and included a GP specialist advisor. During the inspection we spoke with the doctor, viewed a sample of key policies and procedures, viewed patient records and made observations of the environment and infection control measures. We also had telephone contact with the service manager post inspection.
To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we always ask the following five questions:
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Is it safe?
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Is it effective?
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Is it caring?
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Is it responsive to people’s needs?
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Is it well-led?
These questions therefore formed the framework for the areas we looked at during the inspection.