Archived: Rodney Street

Updated 18 December 2020

Rodney Street is registered with the CQC as an independent consulting doctors service also providing slimming clinic treatments and services. The service is located at 88 Rodney Street, Liverpool, L1 9AR.

The service is owned and run by the provider Dr Arun Ghosh. Services to patients include consultation, investigation and treatment. The service also offers intravenous nutrient supplement therapy which was mainly used for patients for non-medical purposes, and in such cases this activity is outside the scope of CQC registration.

The service operates Monday to Saturday from 9am to 7pm if requested. All appointments are pre bookable. The clinic is registered with CQC to provide the following regulated activities:

Diagnostic and screening procedures

Services in slimming clinics

Treatment of disease, disorder or injury

How we inspected this service

The inspection was an unannounced focused inspection looking at areas of concern that had been shared with us. We looked at two key questions:

• Is it safe?

• Is it well-led?

We viewed records and we spoke with the registered manager and staff working at the clinic.

Updated 18 December 2020

This service is rated as Good overall. Good

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 Rodney Street as part of our inspection programme. This was the registered providers first CQC comprehensive inspection.

The 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 exemptions form regulation by CQC which relate to particular types of regulated activities and services and these are set out in Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. Rodney Street provides a range of non-surgical cosmetic interventions which are not within CQC scope of registration. Therefore, we did not inspect or report on these services.

The provider 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.

On the day of inspection there were no patients attending the service, however, prior to the visit we received 39 completed CQC comments cards providing patient feedback about the service. Patients told us they were satisfied with the services that were provided, the staff were kind and caring and always discussed treatment options with them.

Our key findings were:

• The service had clear systems to keep people safe and safeguarded from abuse. There were adequate systems to assess, monitor and manage risks to patient safety.
• There were comprehensive risk assessments in relation to safety issues. The service reviewed safety using information from a range of sources. Systems enabled them to learn from mistakes and make improvements when things went wrong.
• Systems were in place for the management and prescribing of medicines. However, some aspects of the prescribing of slimming clinic medicines required improvements.
• Systems were in place to keep clinicians up to date with current evidence-based practice.
• The practice had a programme of quality improvement activity and some activities had begun to review the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care provided. This programme however, required further development.
• Staff had the skills, knowledge and experience to carry out their roles.
• Patients told us that staff treated patients with kindness, respect and compassion. The practice respected patients’ privacy and dignity.
• Patients could access care and treatment from the practice within an acceptable timescale for their needs.
• The service took complaints and concerns seriously and responded to them appropriately to improve the quality of care.
• The service had a small management team, they were knowledgeable about issues and priorities relating to the quality and future of services. They understood the challenges and were addressing them. Staff told us they were very approachable.
• There was a clear vision and set of values.
• Staff stated they felt respected, supported and valued.
• There was an effective, process to identify, understand, monitor and address current and future risks including risks to patient safety.
• Quality and operational information was used to ensure and improve performance.
• There was evidence of systems and processes for learning and continuous improvement.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Review their programme of quality improvement activity to ensure it includes all aspects of how effective and appropriate the services provided are.
• Improve the arrangements for the appraisal of nurses.
• Have clear, accurate and contemporaneous patient records, showing evidence of the advice given to patients and the rationale for the clinical decisions made.
• Undertake a risk assessment of the administration of the medicines for slimming purposes to consider that the first dose should be administered at the service. They should review the patient assessment carried out for the prescribing of slimming clinic medicines. Before treatment patients should have a comprehensive assessment for suitability including health screening, blood pressure, lipid checks, age, Body Mass Index (BMI) and body measurements.

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