Harley Street Consulting Clinics

This service is rated as Good overall. (Not previously inspected by CQC.)

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 Harley Street Consulting Clinics on 3 September 2019 as part of our inspection programme to rate independent health providers.

Harley Street Consulting Clinics is an independent provider of general medical services to adults and children based in Harley Street, London. Their location in Great Denham provides cardiology services. All other procedures are carried out at their London location which was not inspected on this occasion.

This service is registered with CQC under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 in respect of some, but not all, of the services it provides. There are some general exemptions from regulation by CQC which relate to particular types of service and these are set out in Schedule 2 of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. At Harley Street Consulting Clinics services are provided to patients under arrangements made by their employer or a government department or an insurance company with whom the service user holds a policy (other than a standard health insurance policy). These types of arrangements are exempt by law from CQC regulation. Therefore, at Harley Street Consulting Clinics we were only able to inspect the services which are not arranged for patients by their employers or a government department or an insurance company with whom the patient holds a policy (other than a standard health insurance policy).

One of the Directors is the registered manager and the consultant cardiologist for the service. 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.

As part of our inspection we asked for Care Quality Commission comment cards to be completed by patients prior to our inspection. We received 30 comment cards, which were all very complimentary about the standard of service delivery, which was said to be excellent. The consultants and staff were praised for their caring, efficient and professional approach and patients appreciated the ease with which they could make appointments and have tests, often on the same day.

Our key findings were:

• Initial appointments were 45 minutes long and follow-up appointments were timed at 20 minutes.
• There was rapid access to many investigations on the premises. Results were often available on the same day or the following day.
• There was evidence of quality assurance activities to monitor the quality of services provided. Although no clinical audits were carried out, procedures and processes were regularly examined in conjunction with patient feedback and improvements were made when identified. and findings had been used to improve procedures, for example in the timeliness of the delivery of results and improving access to appointments.
• There was an infection prevention and control (IPC) policy and an IPC audit had been carried out in the last 12 months.
• There were systems for the management of medicines and vaccinations, but none were kept on the premises and no invasive procedures were carried out.
• Staff showed awareness of current evidence based guidance and had received up to date training to enable them to deliver effective care and treatment.
• There was a clear leadership structure. Staff told us that they felt supported by the management team.
• Information about how to lodge a complaint was available.
• Services and fees were clearly displayed.
• The service proactively encouraged feedback from staff and patients and acted on the results.

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