Background to this inspection
Updated
26 June 2019
Phoenix Medical Clinic situated at 798a, St Albans road, Watford, Hertfordshire, is an independent provider of GP and Dental services owned by Phoenix Medical Clinic Ltd.
The provider also offers a range of specialist services and treatments such as facial aesthetics, and ultrasound to people on both a walk-in and pre-bookable appointment basis. The service does not offer NHS treatment.
The medical services include:
- Gynaecology
- Internal medicine defined as, dealing with the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of adult diseases
- Treatment for ear, nose and throat conditions
- Orthopaedics
- Psychiatry
- Diagnostic tests
- A range of dental care including extractions
The clinic provides two regular GPs, four regular dentists, two gynaecologists, a general surgeon and an ultrasound technician. A clinic manager and one clinic administrator manage the clinic.
How we inspected this 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
26 June 2019
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of Phoenix Medical Clinic on 16 January 2018. Breaches of legal requirements were found. After the comprehensive inspection, the service wrote to us to say what they would do to meet legal requirements in relation to Regulation 17 Good Governance, as set out in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.
We undertook this focused inspection on 31 May 2019 to check that they had followed their plan and to confirm that they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to those requirements.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Phoenix Medical Clinic on our website at www.cqc.org.uk
Phoenix Medical Clinic is registered with the CQC to provide the following regulated activities:
- Diagnostic and screening procedures
- Surgical procedures
- Treatment of disease, disorder and injury
- Family Planning
The clinic manager 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 :
We found the provider had taken appropriate actions and met legal requirement.
- There were systems in place to manage the risks arising from Legionella bacteria.
- A system to assess the risks arising from not having certain recommended emergency equipment and medicines was evident.
- There were arrangements in place for the management of the cold chain used to ensure the safety of medicines that needed refrigeration.
- A system was in place which ensured records related to the care and treatment of patients were complete, legible and accurate so they were accessible to external organisations to deliver patient care and treatment.
Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care