Diamond-Garrott Ltd @ Belmont House Clinic

This service is rated as Requires improvement overall.

The service was registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in July 2021 and this is the first inspection since registration.

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Requires improvement

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Requires improvement

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Diamond-Garrott Ltd @ Belmont House as part of our planned inspection programme.

Diamond-Garrott Ltd is a private medical service located in the Bristol Area, situated in Belmont House. It provides consultation and diagnostic services and treatment for ophthalmic conditions such as glaucoma and cataracts under this registration. The services at this location included the use of a laser for diagnostic and minor treatment purposes, general ophthalmology including eye infections or discomfort. The service operated from a room within a shared building at Belmont House. Where the treatment required surgical intervention such as cataract surgery (involves replacing the cloudy lens inside your eye with an artificial one), intraocular lens for astigmatism (where the eye is shaped more like a rugby ball than a football) this would take place at a local hospital where the provider has practicing privileges. Therefore, we did not inspect or report on these services.

The service is led by a consultant ophthalmologist, who 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.

As part of the inspection, we reviewed feedback provided to us through CQC “Feedback on care” forms.

Our key findings were:

• There were systems and processes in place but these were not always clear or embedded to keep patients safe.
• Oversight of recruitment and training was not monitored effectively or in line with service policies to ensure the quality and safety of services being provided.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• Patients were treated with kindness and respect. They were involved in decisions about their care.
• Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
• The service promoted the delivery of quality, person centred care.

The areas where the provider must make improvements as they are in breach of regulations are:

• Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.
• Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Record and review information from external sources including peers, stakeholder and regulatory bodies.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Health Care