About Health

Updated 2 August 2019

The Innovation centre is an independent provider registered in Blackburn and is contracted to run dermatology clinics from GP surgeries and healthcare settings throughout the UK. This report reflects findings from the Blackburn location where the service head offices are located at Innovation Centre, Evolution House, Haslingden Road, Blackburn, BB1 2FD services are offered locally under contract with Blackburn and Darwen Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). As part of this inspection we visited a GP surgery in Preston where the innovation centre was running a clinic.

The service provides a medical and surgical dermatology service to NHS patients for 11 Clinical Commissioning Groups for dermatological conditions such as eczema, psoriasis and skin lesions. It does not treat conditions such as overt malignancy or conditions requiring secondary care follow up or hospital-based treatments.

Before visiting we reviewed a range of information we hold about the service and asked other organisations to share what they knew. Stakeholders we contacted did not raise information of concern with us.

During our visit we spoke with staff and patients and reviewed CQC comment cards where members of the public shared their views.

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?

Updated 2 August 2019

This service is rated as Good overall. (This was the services first inspection)

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Outstanding

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at the Innovation Centre as part of our inspection programme.

The Innovation Centre is an Independent Health service that provides both a medical and surgical dermatology service for patients at a variety of healthcare settings across the UK.

The chief executive officer is also 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.

The service made use of patient feedback as a measure to improve services. They had produced their own annual survey and the results had been analysed.

We received 13 Care Quality Commission comment cards. These were very positive regarding the care delivered by the service and mentioned the professional and caring attitude of staff. In addition we found evidence that staff acted in a kind and caring way, often giving up their own time to ensure people’s needs were met. People said the service was efficient and helped them. We spoke with three patients who had used the service who said that they had received good support and were treated respectfully.

Our key findings were:

• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and an effective system in place to report and record incidents.
• The service promoted ‘caring’ as a core value. Staff often went above and beyond their remit to the benefit of their patients.
• There were well established governance and monitoring systems which were effectively applied and were fully understood by staff.
• There were systems and processes in place to safeguard patients from abuse and staff were able to access relevant training to keep patients safe.
• Patients said they were fully involved in their treatment plans and making decisions about their treatment.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• All members of staff maintained the necessary skills and competence to support patients.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the Duty of Candour.
• Patient outcomes were evaluated, analysed and reviewed as part of quality improvement processes and clinical audit.

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