Archived: Psychiatry-UK LLP

Updated 18 March 2020

Psychiatry-UK provide online services to patients via video conferencing, email and telephone.

Psychiatry-UK aims to provide easy access to a consultation with a psychiatrist and ongoing support from nurse prescribers.

Most patients who consulted the service suffer from depression, anxiety disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), perinatal conditions and addictions. Most patients are adults with about 5% being children (age 10 and over). Half of the adults consulting the service did so for ADHD.

The service is provided to people who pay privately for it and some NHS patients where commissioning arrangements are in place.

The provider comprises a group of consultant psychiatrists who provide remote mental health advice, diagnosis of mental health conditions, prescriptions and information services. There are also a number of registered nurse prescribers who provide ongoing support to patients with their medication following their consultation with the psychiatrist.

Psychiatry-UK is registered with the information commissioner’s office as a data controller.

Psychiatry-UK is registered with CQC to provide treatment of disease, disorder or injury. The service has a registered manager.

This was our second inspection of the service. During our last inspection in April 2018, we told the provider they must make improvements to:

• ensure it had measures in place to confirm the identity of patients before commencing consultations ensure it had appropriate safeguarding procedures in place
• ensure it had appropriate induction procedures in place for staff, monitor the quality of the work of staff and provide staff with supervision and appraisal
• ensure it had effective systems and processes in place to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the service.

On this inspection we found that the provider had made all the required improvements.

Updated 18 March 2020

We rated Psychiatry UK as good because:

• Patients were respected and valued as individuals and empowered as partners in their care, practically and emotionally, by a distinctive service. Staff worked in partnership with patients and carers to provide the best treatment for them and acted on feedback from them and their carers to adjust their support. The provider created patient forums through which patients could feedback about their care and have access to peer support. We saw examples of how the service had responded to match the requirements of the patient group.
• Staff developed holistic, recovery-oriented care plans informed by a comprehensive assessment and in collaboration with families and carers. They provided a range of treatments that were informed by best-practice guidance and suitable to the needs of the patients. Patients told us that by having a consultation and a diagnosis with this provider, they could resume a fulfilling life due to having the correct medication prescribed. Feedback from commissioners and other services was consistently positive about the way the provider worked together with them to achieve the best outcomes for patients. Staff engaged in clinical audit to evaluate the quality of care they provided. The teams included or had access to the full range of specialists required to meet the needs of the patients. Managers ensured that these staff received training, supervision and appraisal. Staff worked well together as a multidisciplinary team and with relevant services outside the organisation. Staff understood and discharged their roles and responsibilities under the Mental Health Act 1983 and the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

• The service provided safe care. The number of patients on the caseload of the teams, and of individual members of staff, was not too high and staff could give each patient the time they needed. Staff managed appointments well to ensure that patients who required urgent care were seen promptly. Staff assessed and managed risk well and followed good practice with respect to safeguarding.

• The service was easy to access. Patients could choose a preferred psychiatrist by viewing their profile on the provider’s website and could choose a preferred appointment time by viewing their calendar. Staff assessed and treated patients who required urgent care promptly and those who did not require urgent care did not wait too long to start treatment. Patients who had been waiting years for an appointment with other services received an appointment within a week with this provider. The criteria for referral to the service did not exclude patients who would have benefitted from care. The provider saw all patients initially before deciding if they could provide appropriate treatment.
• The service was well led and the governance processes ensured that procedures relating to the work of the service ran smoothly. The provider reacted quickly when they recognised that systems were not running as effectively as they could be. For example, they had recently appointed a chief technology officer to support improvements with their information technology systems. The provider engaged remote workers effectively and actively sought feedback to improve their service provision.

Updated 18 March 2020

Psychiatry-UK provides online consultations by tele-conference with psychiatrists and nurses to fee-paying and some NHS patients. They provide assessments and prescriptions.