Eagle Eyecare Limited

Updated 24 November 2021

The service provides ophthalmic diagnostic and eye treatment services for the treatment of glaucoma and cataract.

The service is registered for treatment of disease, disorder or injury, surgical procedures and diagnostic and screening procedures.

A transitional monitoring approach call was held with the service on 22 February 2021. This call raised concerns about the management of the service and the safety of patients. In response, a focused responsive inspection was undertaken in April 2021 resulting in the suspension of regulated activities. A further focused responsive inspection in July 2021 resulted in the continuation of suspension of regulated activities.

Throughout this report ‘registered manager/clinician’ is used to refer to the owner of the business and their wider roles and responsibilities as registered manager.

The service has registered premises at 194 Totley Brook Road, Sheffield, S17 3QY and undertakes consultation and diagnostic services at a local general practitioner premise, the ‘Surgery@Wheatbridge’, under licence from the property owner. This is referred to as ‘the surgery’ throughout this report.

The service has not been inspected since registration in August 2017.

Updated 24 November 2021

Due to the focused nature of this inspection we inspected but did not rate the service.

The CQC carried out a second responsive follow up inspection at Eagle Eyecare Limited on 29 September 2021. This inspection was undertaken following notices of decision served to the provider under section 31 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

The Section 31 notices of decision were served in April 2021 and July 2021 and required the provider to immediately suspend the carrying out of regulated activities at the registered premises and from satellite locations including ‘The Surgery@Wheatbridge’.

We undertook this inspection to review progress the provider had taken to address the concerns we had previously identified.

At this inspection we found that the provider continued to not have the leadership and management to effectively run the service; and we had ongoing concerns about the oversight the registered manager had in the running of the service.

There was an absence of underpinning governance arrangements and audits to ensure patient safety.

The arrangements for the service to use facilities at the ‘Surgery@Wheatbridge’ remained unclear and there was still no service level agreement in place.

We did not find evidence the registered manager had developed procedures to ensure staff were competent through the provision of training and development.

We remained concerned that patients would be exposed to the risk of harm if the service resumed the provision of care and treatment.

Following this inspection, under Section 31 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008, we suspended the provider in respect to the regulated activities for a further time limited period to give the provider opportunity to take action to reduce and mitigate the risks. We took this urgent action as we believed a person would or may be exposed to the risk of harm if we had not done so.

Updated 24 November 2021

Due to the focused nature of this inspection we inspected but did not rate the service.

Policies and procedures were not in place to ensure staff would have training in key skills, so they could understand how to protect patients from abuse, or manage safety well. The service did not control infection risk well. Staff did not assess risks to patients, act on them or keep good care records. The service did not manage safety incidents well and learn lessons from them. Staff did not collect safety information and use it to improve the service.

The registered manager/clinician did not monitor the effectiveness of the service and did not make sure staff had the skills and competence to undertake their roles.

The registered manager/clinician did not run services well using reliable information systems and did not support staff to develop their skills.

The service had not developed procedures and plans for the completion and review of risk assessments such as pre assessment of existing health conditions relating to the health, safety and welfare of service users.

The service had not developed a safeguarding adults policy or a safeguarding children policy that included clear guidance for staff to take in response to suspicions and allegations of abuse.

The service had not developed robust systems and processes to ensure staff employed would be of good character and have the qualifications, competence, skills and experience necessary for their roles.

However, people could access the service when they needed it and did not have to wait too long for treatment. Staff felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on the needs of patients receiving care.