Archived: King's Cross

Updated 19 August 2019

London Doctors Clinic Limited (“the provider”) is an independent doctors service, currently providing private general medical services at 15 locations across London. All services are private, subject to payment of fees, and are usually provided on a single-visit basis, with patients’ long-term health conditions not being routinely managed. The service is offered to adults and children, but most patients are adults. No NHS services are provided.

The provider is registered by the CQC in respect of the following regulated activities:

• Diagnostic and Screening Services
• Maternity and Midwifery Services
• Treatment of Disease, Disorder or Injury

Services provided at the clinic include: GP Consultation: Women’s Health; Referrals for Imaging, Investigations and Procedures; Health Screening; Blood Tests; General Wellness Screening; Sexual Health; Travel Health. The services are offered on an appointment-only basis, with appointments often being available from 8am to 8pm seven days a week. However, the availability of appointments may vary, dependent upon demand and doctors’ working patterns. Patients may be referred to the provider’s other locations in the event that the King’s Cross clinic is not operating at the relevant time. Appointments can be booked by using a central telephone number, or through an online system accessible via the provider’s website –

http://www.londondoctorsclinic.co.uk

The clinic is situated on the ground floor of a serviced commercial block a short distance from King’s Cross Station, with the associated good transport links. The service is provided from two clinical rooms, with suitable access and facilities for disabled patients. There is a small reception / waiting area for clinic patients, as well as a larger one for other visitors to the building.

The provider employs 10 doctors and has contracts with a further 16, who work across the 15 London locations; 10 regularly work at the King’s Cross clinic. Most of whom also work within the NHS. In addition, use is made of regular locums. There are no nurses working within the service. Each location has a clinic manager undertaking service and site management, together with administrative and reception duties. Clinic managers also sometimes work across the various locations. Service provision at all locations is supported by a corporate team that includes management, governance, quality assurance, administrative and financial roles. The provider has approximately 70,000 patients registered for its services across all 15 locations, with around 5,000 appointments being booked per month.

How we inspected this service

We reviewed information about the service in advance of our inspection visit. This included:

• Data and other information we held about the service.
• Material we requested and received directly from the service ahead of the inspection.
• Information available on the service’s website.
• Patient feedback and reviews accessible on various websites.

During the inspection visit we undertook a range of approaches. This included interviewing the provider’s registered manager, a doctor working on the day and the clinic manager; reviewing feedback from patients who had used the service; reviewing documents and records; examining electronic systems; and assessing the building and equipment.

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 19 August 2019

This service is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspection 13 February 2018.)

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 carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at London Doctors Clinic Limited, King’s Cross (the clinic) on 18 July 2019 as part of our current inspection programme. We previously inspected this service on 13 February 2018 using our previous methodology, when we found the service was complaint with the relevant regulations. At that inspection, we did not apply ratings.

The clinic is operated by London Doctors Clinic Limited (the provider) which is an independent doctors service, currently providing private general medical services at 15 locations across London. All services are private, subject to payment of fees, and are usually provided on a “single-visit” basis, with patients’ long-term health conditions not being routinely managed. No NHS services are provided.

The provider 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 general exemptions from regulation by CQC, relating 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. For example, the provider offers some services to patients under arrangements made by their employer. These types of arrangements are exempt by law from CQC regulation and therefore we were only able to inspect the services which are not arranged for patients by their employers.

The provider’s chief executive officer is the registered manager for the clinic. 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.

We received three completed CQC comment cards which were all consistently positive about the service. Patients commented that the doctors were attentive, caring and professional.

Our key findings were:

• Care was provided in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and a system in place for recording, reporting and learning from significant events and incidents. The provider had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents happened, the provider learned from them and reviewed its processes to implement improvements.
• There were clearly defined and embedded systems, processes and practices to keep people safe and safeguarded from abuse, and for identifying and mitigating risks of health and safety.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• The provider organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs. Patients said that they could access care and treatment in a timely way.
• The provider reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence-based guidelines and best practice.
• Patients told us all staff treated them with kindness and respect and that they felt involved in discussions about their care and treatment options.
• Doctors had the appropriate skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
• The provider took complaints and concerns seriously and responded to them appropriately to improve the quality of care.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care