We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 8 and 9 March 2018 to ask the clinic the following key questions; Are services safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led?
Our findings were:
Are services safe?
We found that in some areas of care this clinic was not providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.
Are services effective?
We found that in some areas of care this service was not providing effective care in accordance with the relevant regulations.
Are services caring?
We found that this clinic was providing caring services in accordance with the relevant regulations.
Are services responsive?
We found that this clinic was providing responsive care in accordance with the relevant regulations.
Are services well-led?
We found that in some areas of care this clinic was not providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.
We carried out this inspection 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.
Sussex Travel Clinic provides independent travel health advice, travel and non-travel vaccinations, and blood tests for antibody screening. People of all ages intending to travel abroad can seek advice regarding health risks and receive both information and necessary vaccinations and medicines. The clinic is also a registered yellow fever vaccination centre.
The service is provided by four nurses and a GP works remotely to provide medical support to the clinic. The registered manager holds the International Society of Travel Medicine Certificate (ISTM) in Travel Health and is a member of the Faculty of Travel Medicine at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons Glasgow.
The provider is registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide the following regulated activity: Treatment of disease, disorder or injury. One of the nurses is the nominated individual who is also registered with Care Quality Commission as 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.
We received feedback from twelve clients about the clinic who were very positive. Comments included a great service, very informative and supportive, safe and clean environment. Clients felt staff were friendly, knowledgeable and professional.
Our key findings were:
- The service was offered on a private, fee paying basis only.
- The clinic had good facilities and was well equipped to treat clients and meet their needs.
- Assessments of a client’s treatment plan were thorough and followed national guidance.
- Clients received full and detailed explanations of any treatment options.
- The clinic had systems in place to identify, investigate and learn from incidents relating to the safety of clients and staff members.
- There were some processes in place to safeguard clients from abuse.
- There was no infection prevention and control policy; and there was no record of training in infection control.
- Some risk assessments had been carried out but there were not clear action plans to ensure that mitigating actions were completed.
- Staff did not always maintain the necessary skills and competence to support the needs of clients and not all staff had received training in Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the appropriate level of safeguarding for their role.
- The provider did not always ensure good governance, for example policies were not always followed or adapted to local needs and management of risk was not always sufficient.
- Medicines were not always administered in accordance with guidelines.
- The clinic encouraged and valued feedback from clients and staff.
- Feedback from clients was positive.
- The provider shared knowledge with other clinics owned by the parent company and by attending education events and training and networking with other clinical professionals specialising in travel.
We identified regulations that were not being met and the provider must:
- Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients.
- Ensure persons employed in the provision of the regulated activity receive the appropriate training necessary to enable them to carry out the duties.
- Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.
You can see full details of the regulations not being met at the end of this report.