Archived: Dr Morton's - The Medical Helpline

Updated 3 December 2019

Dr Morton’s - The Medical Helpline offers patients medical advice and treatment via an online platform. Patients access the provider via Dr Morton’s website and can request consultations with a doctor via email or telephone. The provider had other consultant specialists available to their doctors so that expert opinions can be delivered to patients when necessary. Patients can access the provider by registering through Dr Morton’s website, via secure email or telephone. If felt useful or appropriate a video call may be offered to the patient via a web link. Patients pay for these services by monthly subscription, which offers an unlimited access for a set payment per month, or by paying for an individual consultation. Medicines can be ordered from a small selection available via the provider’s website. The provider uses a fulfilment pharmacy that posts prescriptions to patients recorded delivery. Following the inspection, the provider informed us that they provided medical consultations and governance to a partner online pharmacy. We did not knowing review this aspect of their work.

Patients register with the provider by creating an account (username and password – they are not allowed to use an email address as their username) they are then required to complete a medical history form.

The provider employs staff that work from their registered address including a Chief Executive Officer, Senior independent non-executive director and the Medical Director. On average the provider handles 3100 consultations per month. The provider can be accessed through their website: www.drmortons.co.uk where registered patients can place orders for medicines seven days a week. The provider is available from 7am to 11pm, seven days per week, 356 days per year via telephone, email and video chat. Subscribers to the provider pay for their medicines when making their on-line application. Once approved by the doctor, medicines are supplied by the affiliated pharmacy.

The provider has a registered manager in place. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the CQC to manage the provider. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered people. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations about how the provider is run.

The provider is registered for the following registered activities: Treatment of disease, disorder or injury; Transport providers, triage and medical advice provided remotely.

How we inspected this provider

Before the inspection we gathered and reviewed information from the provider. During this inspection we spoke to the Registered Manager and members of the management and administration team.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we 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 3 December 2019

We carried out an announced inspection at Dr Morton's - The Medical Helpline on 27 September 2019. The provider is an online GP and specialist gynaecology consultation service, UK-wide with headquarters in London. This inspection was part of the digital and online providers inspection programme to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008. Patients register for the provider on the provider’s website to either undergo a consultation or to select the medicines they require. Patients are required to complete an online questionnaire which is reviewed by a doctor.

At this inspection we found:

• The provider had good systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When they did happen, the provider learned from them and improved their processes.
• The provider routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence-based guidelines.
• Staff treated people with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• Patients could access care and treatment from the provider within an appropriate timescale for their needs.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.
• The provider did not have a system in place to check the symptoms of patients requesting a prescription through the provider’s website. This feature was implemented after the inspection.

The provider carried out clinical audits of three telephone consultations per month at random, and three telephone consultations for each doctor as part of their assessment towards their structured reference at the time of their NHS-post appraisal. The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Continue to improve the process of obtaining patients’ consent for the provider to contact their registered.