SMC (Brighton) Ltd

Updated 20 June 2018

SMC (Brighton) Ltd is run by SMC (Brighton) Limited, who also run a large NHS GP practice located in the same building. SMC (Brighton) Ltd provide community ear, nose and throat (ENT) and vasectomy services to NHS patients within Brighton and Hove. ENT services are also provided to NHS patients from Lewes and High Weald.

There are two GP partners who are clinical leads (one male, one female), one GP partner with a specialist interest in vasectomy, three contract GPs with a specialist interest in ENT, a contract ENT associate specialist and a contract specialist vasectomy consultant. SMC (Brighton) Ltd is supported by one nurse, one health care assistant, a practice business manager and one dedicated administrator. Other reception and administration support is provided by staff from the GP practice. All staff work part time within the service, and are shared with the GP practice run by the provider, except for the contract staff.

Patients can access the service by telephone between 8am and 6:30pm Monday to Friday. ENT clinics are run weekly, with some evening appointments and vasectomy clinics are run monthly. Additional clinics are provided when demand is high for services.

The service is provided from the ground and second floor of a converted office building in the city of Brighton with wheelchair access. The service has a minor surgery suite, two ENT treatment rooms and administrative areas. The building is shared with other healthcare providers including another GP practice and a pharmacy.

Services are provided from

2nd Floor, 175 Preston Road

Brighton

East Sussex

BN1 6AG

The provider is registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide the following regulated activities: Treatment of disease, disorder or injury and Surgical procedures.

Prior to the inspection we gathered and reviewed information from the provider. During our visit we:

• Spoke with a range of staff, including GPs, a specialist consultant, nurses, a health care assistant, the practice business manager and administrative and reception staff.
• Observed how patients were being cared for in the reception area.
• Reviewed comment cards where patients and members of the public shared their views and experiences of the service.
• Looked at information the service used to deliver care.
• Reviewed documents relating to the 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 20 June 2018

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 14 May 2018 to ask the service the following key questions; Are services safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led?

Our findings were:

Are services safe?

We found that this service was providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services effective?

We found that this service was providing effective care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services caring?

We found that this service was providing caring services in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services responsive?

We found that this service was providing responsive care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services well-led?

We found that this service was providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the service was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

The service delivers community ear, nose and throat (ENT) services to NHS patients within Brighton and Hove, Lewes and High Weald and community vasectomy services to patients within Brighton and Hove. These services are provided under NHS contracts.

There are two registered managers who are both GPs and shareholders of the company. 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 CQC comment cards to be completed by patients prior to our inspection and spoke to patients on the day of inspection. We received feedback about the service from 78 people, all were positive about the service, although two also contained negative comments about staff attitude. Patients told us that they were treated professionally in a caring manner.

Our key findings were:

• The service routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care they provided. They ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.
• Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.
• The service had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the service learned from them and improved their processes.

There were areas where the provider could make improvements and should

• Review and improve how patient safety alerts are recorded.
• Review and improve recording of staff immunisation status.
• Review and improve the recording of decisions where actions identified in risk assessments are postponed.
• Review the frequency that clinical governance information is disseminated to staff, including contract staff.