Archived: MASTA Travel Clinic Cheltenham

Updated 31 July 2019

MASTA Travel Clinic – Cheltenham opened in November 2017 and is located at 124 High Street, Cheltenham, GL50 1ER within a Flight Centre travel shop. The private travel clinic is a location for the provider MASTA (Medical Advisory Service for Travellers Abroad) Limited. MASTA Limited provides more than 170 private travel clinics across the UK.

The clinic offers travel health consultations, travel and non-travel vaccines, blood tests for antibody screening and travel medicines such as anti-malarial medicines to children and adults.

McKesson UK (a global pharmaceutical distributor and health care information technology company) owns MASTA. Further information can be found at:

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

Diagnostic and screening procedures; and Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

The lead nurse 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.

The Cheltenham clinic operated by travel health nurse, is open between 10am and 6pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and one in three Saturdays per month. In addition, MASTA provides a telephone consultation service with specialist travel nurses and a central customer service team to manage appointment bookings.

We inspected the clinic on 20 June 2019. Before visiting, we reviewed a range of information we hold about the service; and spoke to the regional manager who is also a registered nurse within the service. We also asked the service to complete a provider information request. During our visit we:

• Spoke with the lead nurse who was also the registered manager.

• Looked at information the clinic used to deliver care and treatment plans.

• Reviewed comment cards where clients and members of the public shared their views and experiences of the clinic.

To get to the heart of peoples’ 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?

Updated 31 July 2019

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at MASTA Travel Clinic - Cheltenham 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.

MASTA Travel Clinic – Cheltenham is a private clinic providing travel health advice, travel and non-travel vaccines, blood tests for antibody screening and travel medicines such as anti-malarial medicines to children and adults. In addition, the clinic holds a licence to administer yellow fever vaccines.

This location is registered with CQC under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 in respect of some, (the provision of advice or treatment by, or under the supervision of, a medical practitioner, including the prescribing of medicines for the purposes of travel health) but not all, of the services it provides. There are some general exemptions from regulation by CQC which relate to particular types of service and these are set out in of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. At MASTA Travel Clinic - Cheltenham services are provided to clients under arrangements made by their employer with whom the servicer user holds a policy (other than a standard health insurance policy). These types of arrangements are exempt by law from CQC regulation. Therefore, we were only able to inspect the services which are not arranged for clients by their employers.

During the inspection we reviewed 36 completed CQC comment cards which described the service as efficient, carried out in a hygienic environment; and staff as friendly, helpful, caring and respectful.

Our key findings were:

• The clinic had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the provider learned from them and improved their processes.

• The provider routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence based guidelines and up to date travel health information.

• Each client received an individualised travel health brief containing a risk assessment, health information including additional health risks related to their destinations; and a written immunisation plan.

• Staff involved and treated clients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect. Care Quality Commission comment cards completed by clients prior to our inspection were all positive about the standard of care received.

• There was a leadership structure in place with clear responsibilities, roles and systems of accountability to support good governance and management. Staff felt supported by the leadership team and worked well together as a team across local branches when necessary.

• The provider was aware of the requirements of the duty of candour.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• The provider should consider photographic identification checks for adults with parental responsibility in order to ascertain correct identity.

• The provider should review policies in line with their renewal dates.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care