The Cataract Centre - Lincoln Road Medical Practice

Updated 16 August 2022

The Cataract Centre Ltd is an ophthalmology services provider situated in North London in the Borough of Enfield. The organisation offers services to NHS patients and those who wish to fund their own treatments.

We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out the unannounced inspection of the service on 25 June 2022. To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we ask the same five questions of all services: are they safe, effective, caring, responsive to people's needs, and well-led? Where we have a legal duty to do so, we rate services’ performance against each key question as outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate. Throughout the inspection, we took account of what people told us and how the provider understood and complied with the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

The service offers a range of full range of outpatients ophthalmic services, including ophthalmology outpatient clinics (new and follow-up), management of long term eye conditions, eye diagnostic assessments, orthoptist clinics, management of age-related macular disease including investigations with high definition optical coherence tomography (OCT) and scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (SLO). The OCT provides a comfortable and rapid scan that may detect glaucoma, macular degeneration, and diabetic macular oedema and SLO is a method of imaging of the eye. It uses the technique of confocal laser scanning microscopy for diagnostic imaging of the retina or the cornea. It is helpful in the diagnosis of glaucoma, macular degeneration and other retinal disorders.

The surgical eye procedure provided included cataract surgery, complex cataract and refractive surgery, glaucoma surgery, adult squint correction, all types of adnexal surgery including complex eye lid surgery and YAG laser procedures.YAG is a laser surgery that is performed to create a small hole in the cloudy lens capsule. This allows light to pass through the membrane to the retina at the back of the eye and restore vision, when a patient develops clouding of the capsule which covers the lens following cataract surgery.

Adults, children and young people were treated at the centre, and are admitted for elective day surgery at the local hospital under the care of The Cataract Centre Eye Surgeons.

The main service provided by this service provider was surgery. Where our findings on surgery – for example, management arrangements – they also apply to other services, we do not repeat the information but cross-refer to the surgical service.

What people who use the service say

Patients we spoke with were all very positive about the service they received and the staff who provided it. Patients we spoke with told us they were offered emotional support during their ultrasound procedure.

Updated 16 August 2022

We rated it as good because:

• The service had enough staff to care for patients and keep them safe. Staff had training in key skills, understood how to protect patients from abuse, and managed safety well.
• Staff assessed risks to patients, acted on them and kept good care records. The service managed safety incidents and learned lessons from them.
• Staff provided good care and treatment. Staff worked well together for the benefit of patients and supported them to make decisions about their care. Key services were available to suit patients' needs seven days a week.
• Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, took account of their individual needs, and helped them understand their conditions.
• The service planned care to meet the needs of local people and took account of patients’ individual needs. People could access the service when they needed it and did not have to wait too long to access treatment at the service.
• Staff understood the service’s vision and values, and how to apply them in their work. Staff felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on the needs of patients receiving care.
• Staff gave pain relief to patients when they needed it. Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent.
• Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, took account of their individual needs, and helped them understand their conditions. They provided emotional support to patients, families and carers.
• Leaders ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills. Staff understood the service’s vision and values, and how to apply them in their work. Staff felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on the needs of patients receiving care. Staff were clear about their roles and accountabilities.
• The service engaged well with patients and the community to plan and manage services and all staff were committed to improving services continually

However:

• While there were risk assessments in place, we found that medicines management were not robustly adhered to, medicines were kept in an unlocked cupboard in an unlocked room, medicines fridge temperature were not routinely monitored, medicines and cleaning liquids were kept together on the same shelve without any risk assessments been made for their safety.

Updated 16 August 2022

We rated children and young people as good because:

• The service had enough staff to care for children and young people and keep them safe. Key services were available seven days a week.
• Staff had training in key skills, understood how to protect children and young people from abuse, and managed safety well.
• The service controlled infection risk well. Staff assessed risks to children and young people, acted on them and kept good care records.
• The service managed safety incidents well and learned lessons from them. Staff collected safety information and used it to improve the service.
• Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent.
• Staff worked well together for the benefit of children and young people, advised them and their families on how to lead healthier lives, supported them to make decisions about their care, and had access to good information.
• Leaders ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills. Staff understood the service’s vision and values, and how to apply them in their work.
• Staff felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on the needs of children and young people receiving care. Staff were clear about their roles and accountabilities.
• The service engaged well with children, young people and the community to plan and manage services and all staff were committed to improving services continually.

However:

• While there were risk assessments in place, we found that medicines management were not robustly adhered to, the medicines were kept in an unlocked cupboard, medicines fridge temperature were not routinely monitored, medicines and cleaning liquid were kept together on the same shelve.

Updated 16 August 2022

We rated outpatients as good because:

• The service had enough staff to care for patients and keep them safe. Staff had training in key skills, understood how to protect patients from abuse, and managed safety well.
• The service controlled infection risk well. Staff assessed risks to patients, acted on them and kept good care records.
• The service managed safety incidents well and learned lessons from them. Staff collected safety information and used it to improve the service.
• The service planned care to meet the needs of people, took account of patients’ individual needs, and made it easy for people to give feedback.
• People could access the service when they needed it and did not have to wait too long for treatment.
• Staff provided good care and treatment, gave patients enough to eat and drink, and gave them pain relief when they needed it.
• Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent. Key services were available seven days a week.
• Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, took account of their individual needs, and helped them understand their conditions. They provided emotional support to patients, families and carers.
• Leaders ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills. Staff understood the service’s vision and values, and how to apply them in their work. Staff felt respected, supported and valued.
• They were focused on the needs of patients receiving care. Staff were clear about their roles and accountabilities. The service engaged well with patients and the community to plan and manage services and all staff were committed to improving services continually.

Updated 16 August 2022

We rated surgery as good because:

• The service had enough staff to care for patients and keep them safe. Staff had training in key skills, understood how to protect patients from abuse, and managed safety well. The service controlled infection risk well. Staff assessed risks to patients, acted on them and kept good care records. They managed medicines well. The service managed safety incidents well and learned lessons from them.
• Staff provided good care and treatment, gave patients enough to eat and drink, and gave them pain relief when they needed it. Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent. Staff worked well together for the benefit of patients, advised them on how to lead healthier lives, supported them to make decisions about their care, and had access to good information. Key services were available seven days a week.
• Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, took account of their individual needs, and helped them understand their conditions. They provided emotional support to patients, families and carers.
• The service planned care to meet the needs of local people, took account of patients’ individual needs, and made it easy for people to give feedback. People could access the service when they needed it and did not have to wait too long for treatment.
• Leaders ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills. Staff understood the service’s vision and values, and how to apply them in their work. Staff felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on the needs of patients receiving care. Staff were clear about their roles and accountabilities. The service engaged well with patients and the community to plan and manage services and all staff were committed to improving services continually.

The main service was surgery. Where arrangements were the same, we have reported findings in the surgery section. We rated this service as good because it was safe, effective, caring and responsive, and well-led.