Updated 2 April 2020
Now HealthCare Group Limited is the provider of Now GP, an online video GP consulting service, and Now Pharmacy (which is not regulated by the Care Quality Commission).
We inspected Now GP at their offices based at Digital World Centre, 1 Lowry Plaza, Salford Quays, Manchester M50 3UB. The provider headquarters are located within modern, purpose-built offices which house the IT system, management and administration staff. Patients are not treated on the premises and GPs carry out the online consultations remotely; usually from their home.
The provider employs a number of GPs (55% male and 45% female) who are on the General Medical Council (GMC) register and also work within the NHS. The provider has contracts with private medical insurance companies; approximately 90% of their patients are from these organisations. The service treats both children and adults.
Now GP has been established since 2015 having previously been known as Dr Now. Now GP is a virtual service, which provides remote medical assessment and healthcare advice via a smartphone application (app). The app is downloaded onto a user’s smartphone, where they can access appointments and see which GP is available.
Patients are asked to set up a profile and identity checks are undertaken. Once their identity has been verified, patients are able to book an eight minute consultation with a GP between the hours of 6am and midnight seven days a week. The smartphone app allows users to have video consultations with a GP of their preference. The consulting GP will ask relevant questions relating to the condition or issue the patient has raised. Following the consultation, if appropriate, a private prescription or a referral letter to another service can be provided. The prescription is sent by secure communication to the patient’s preferred pharmacy to collect themselves. Alternatively, patients can pay to have the prescription delivered to their home using a ‘track and trace’ mail delivery service. Those patients who live in London can also pay for their prescriptions to be delivered direct to them on the same day. (The provider has arrangements in place with partner pharmacies within the London area to provide this service.)
Patients can subscribe to the online service and pay per consultation. Patients can give feedback about the service via the app.
The Clinical Director is the registered manager. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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.
Now GP had previously been inspected on 14 June 2017. At that time Now GP were found to be safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led in accordance with the relevant regulations but not rated.
How we inspected this service
Before the inspection we gathered and reviewed information from the provider. During this inspection we spoke to the service manager and members of the clinical and administration team.
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.