Archived: Minor Ops Ltd

Updated 20 July 2018

Minor Ops Ltd is registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide an independent medical service from:

• The Quadrus Centre, Woodstock Way, Boldon Business Park, Boldon Colliery, Tyne and Wear, NE35 9PF.

At Minor Ops Limited, podiatry and hearing care services are also provided. These are outside the scope of regulation under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and as such, we did not inspect them.

The organisation provides an eyelid minor surgery service and has seven sites where care and treatment is delivered. We inspected those services as they were within the scope of the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

We carried out the announced inspection on 22nd May, 29th and 30th June 2018 under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. We planned the inspection to check on whether the registered provider was meeting the legal requirements within the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations.

Our inspection team was led by a CQC Lead Inspector and included a nurse practitioner. During the inspection we visited the headquarters and two premises; Walkers Opticians in Spennymoor and K McGuinness Opticians in Newton Aycliffe, both in County Durham.

During our inspection, we spoke with the managing director and consultant ophthalmologist, the registered manager, a nurse and a member of the administration team. We also viewed personnel files, training records, service policies and procedures and other records about how the service is managed.

We received feedback from 50 patients detailing their experience of 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 July 2018

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 21st May, 29th June and 30th June 2018 to ask the service the following key questions; Are services safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led?

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.

Minor Ops Ltd provides minor eyelid surgery across the North East. 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 from regulation by CQC which relate to particular types of service and these are set out in Schedule 2 of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. Podiatry is one of the services provided by Minor Ops Ltd; this service is exempt from regulation.

The Operations Director 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.

Our key findings were:

• We found that this service was providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.
• We found that this service was providing effective care in accordance with the relevant regulations.
• We found that this service was providing caring services in accordance with the relevant regulations.
• We found that this service was providing responsive care in accordance with the relevant regulations.
• We found that this service was providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

There were areas where the provider could make improvements. They should:

• Review the arrangements for ensuring that all sites where services are delivered are fit for purpose; including a review of whether it is necessary to carry oxygen when carrying out minor surgical procedures at the opticians’ premises.
• Review the arrangements for ensuring the fire alarms at the main site are in working order, by obtaining guidance from the provider of the system.
• Review the processes for identifying and carrying out those clinical audits which would help improve patient outcomes.