Archived: DiMedic Limited

Updated 25 November 2019

DiMedic Limited provides an online clinic, consultation, treatment and prescribing service for a limited number of medical conditions to patients primarily from England, Poland and Germany. The conditions treated are limited to hair loss, contraception, menstrual delay, male thrush, vaginal thrush, smoking cessation, premature ejaculation, erectile dysfunction, menopause, migraine, cystitis, malaria prevention and obesity. A specific list (with photographs) of medicines that the provider is able to prescribe to treat these conditions is detailed on the providers website. The service does not treat patients under the age of 18 and does not prescribe any pain relief or high-risk medicines. They prescribe one type of antibiotic for a specific condition and for a limited period of time only.

DiMedic Limited consists of five members of staff which includes a pharmacist who is the registered manager, two doctors, deputy registered manager and an administrator. The doctors are registered with the General Medical Council (GMC), and are contracted to undertake remote patient consultations by reviewing patient requests and completed medical questionnaires when they apply for medicines online.

The service’s call centre is open between 10am and 6pm on a Monday to Friday. However, patients are able to submit a request for treatment 24 hours a day, seven days a week on the provider’s website. Requests for treatment are generally dealt with within one to three working days depending on when they are received.

This is not an emergency service. Subscribers to the service pay for their medicines when their online application has been assessed and approved. Once approved by the prescriber, prescriptions are issued by post.

DiMedic Limited is operated via a website () which is available in Polish and English.

DiMedic Limited was registered with Care Quality Commission (CQC) on 1 May 2015 and there is a registered manager in place. 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.

How we inspected this service

We carried out an announced inspection of this location on 30 September 2019. We visited DiMedic operating site in Newcastle Upon Tyne and spoke to their registered manager, medical director and deputy manager. We looked at the records, policies and other documentation the provider maintained in relation to the provision of services. We also viewed patient feedback which had been submitted to the Care Quality Commission.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we 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 25 November 2019

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We rated this service as Good overall.

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Good

We previously carried out an announced comprehensive inspection in November 2017 and an announced focused inspection in September 2018 of DiMedic Limited. The full reports for these inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all services’ link for DiMedic Limited on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

We carried out this announced comprehensive inspection at DiMedic Limited on 30 September 2019 as part of our inspection programme and in accordance with our updated methodology to inspect all key questions and provide a quality rating.

DiMedic Ltd provides an online clinic, consultation, treatment and prescribing service for a limited number of medical conditions to patients primarily from England, Poland and Germany. The providers website was in Polish but could be translated into English by clicking on a drop-down button.

At this inspection we found:

• The service had good systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When they did happen, the service learned from them and improved their processes.
• The service routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. However, there was limited clinical audit carried out within the service. They ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.
• Staff involved and treated people with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• The provider organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs. They considered carefully the range of services they delivered to patients to ensure this could be done effectively and safely. They took account of patient needs and preferences.
• There was a clear vision and strategy to deliver high quality, sustainable care.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Improve recruitment records so they are routinely maintained in line with legislative requirements.
• Improve the requirement for identity checks so the risks are managed where patients request medicines which have a higher risk level, such as obesity or thyroid conditions.
• Improve the prescribing for cystitis to reduce any risks to patients whilst they wait for a prescription to be sent to them via post
• Develop a clinical audit strategy to ensure the service is monitoring and taking action to improve outcomes for patients.
• Develop and implement processes, in line with GMC guidance, for communicating with patients who choose not to consent to information about their consultation with the service being shared with their registered GP.
• Develop arrangements for storage of legacy medical records in line with retention policies in the event the service should cease trading.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care