Archived: Private Walk-In Clinic

Updated 1 March 2018

Private Walk-In Clinic provides a private medical service to adults and children. The majority of patients attending the service are from the Somali community. Services include a private general medical service, immunisations such as child immunisations and travel vaccinations, health screening and lifestyle management. The service team consists of a principal GP who is a director of the provider organisation, a second GP who is also a director of the provider organisation and two long term locum GPs, one male and one female, a full-time practice manager, a phlebotomist who also undertakes administrative duties and four reception and administration staff member. All members of staff speak English and Somali.

The service is located in a property previously arranged as a ground floor retail premises with residential accommodation above. The building has been converted and adapted to provide medical services in the Tottenham area of the London Borough of Haringey. The provider also operates a separately registered location in the Shepherd’s Bush area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham.

The practice is open for appointments seven days per week between 9:30am and 5pm. Appointments can be booked in person, by telephone or by email. The service offers patients the option of a pay as you go service or membership through an annual subscription. Individual and family memberships are available, a family membership consisting of up to two adults and up to four children. The service undertook approximately 2,500 consultations in the previous twelve months.

The practice is not required to offer an out of hours service. Patients who need medical assistance out of corporate operating hours are requested to seek assistance from alternative services such as the NHS 111 telephone service or accident and emergency facilities.

The principal GP 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 a legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations about how the service is run.

As part of our inspection we also asked for CQC comment cards to be completed by patients prior to our inspection. We received 35 completed comment cards where patients and members of the public shared their views and experiences of the service. Patients spoke highly of the service, they described staff as professional, helpful and friendly. They told us that they felt listened to and would be happy to recommend the service to others.

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the service was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Our inspection team consisted of a CQC Lead Inspector, a GP Specialist Advisor and a practice manager specialist adviser.

The inspection team:-

• Carried out an announced inspection at Private Walk-In Clinic on 30 January 2018.
• Spoke with staff.
• Reviewed patient feedback from the completed CQC comment cards and the provider’s own survey.
• Spoke with members of the Patient Participation Group.
• Reviewed the practices policies and procedures and other documentation made available by the provider in relation to the running of the service.

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 1 March 2018

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 30 January 2018 to ask the service the following key questions; Are services safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led?

Our findings were:

Are services safe?

We found that this service was providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services effective?

We found that this service was providing effective care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services caring?

We found that this service was providing caring services in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services responsive?

We found that this service was providing responsive care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services well-led?

We found that this service was providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the service was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Private Walk-In Clinic registered with CQC under the provider organisation SomDoc Walk-In Clinic Limited in July 2016.

Private Walk-In Clinic provides a private medical service to adults and children. The majority of patients attending the service are from the Somali community. Services include a private general medical service, immunisations such as child immunisations and travel vaccinations, health screening and lifestyle management. The service team consists of a principal GP, a second GP who is also a director of the provider organisation and two long term locum GPs, one male and one female, a full-time practice manager, a phlebotomist who also undertakes administrative duties and a full-time reception and administration staff member. All members of staff speak English and Somali.

Our key findings were:

The service was providing safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

• There were systems in place to keep patients safe and safeguarded from abuse.
• The provider had a protocol in place to ensure that identity checks were undertaken when a patient presented at the service for the first time. This included a step to check that persons accompanying paediatric patients had parental authority for the child.
• The practice assessed risks to patient safety and we found the premises appeared well maintained.
• There were effective systems in place for recording, investigating and learning from significant events.
• Care and treatment was provided in line with evidence based guidance.
• Staff worked with other health professionals where appropriate and supported patients to lead healthier lifestyles.
• The provider participated in improvement activity such as non-clinical audit to support service improvements.
• Staff understood the relevant consent and decision-making requirements of legislation and guidance, including the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
• Patient feedback through CQC comment cards and the provider’s own surveys showed patients were happy with the service received and that they felt involved in decisions about their care.
• Services were provided that were responsive to the needs of the population served. This included timely and flexible services.
• There was clear leadership and governance arrangements to support the running of the service and delivery of high quality care. Staff felt supported.
• The provider was proactive in identifying challenges and responsive to feedback received to support service improvements.
• The provider demonstrated a strong commitment to the Somali community and was involved in promoting healthier lifestyles and health screening programmes.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Put steps in place so that storage containers for used sharps are clearly marked to indicate the date on which the container is installed.
• Consider undertaking improvements to the sink and taps in the consulting room so these are in line with best practice.
• Consider undertaking clinical audits to identify areas where patient care could be improved.