We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 14 March 2018 to ask the service the following key questions; Are services safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led? Our findings were:

Are services safe?

We found that this service was providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services effective?

We found that this service was providing effective care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services caring?

We found that this service was providing caring services in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services responsive?

We found that this service was providing responsive care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services well-led?

We found that this service was providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Background

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.

London Doctors Clinic Ltd, Waterloo is an independent provider of medical services. The service provides general practice services on a single visit basis (the service does not regularly manage long term conditions). Services are provided from Mercury House, 117 Waterloo Road, London, SE1 8UL in the London borough of Lambeth. All of the services provided are private and are therefore fee paying, no NHS services are provided at the site.

The service is open seven days a week from 8am to 8pm. The service has practitioners who may be available out of these hours in the event that existing patients need to speak to clinicians, but does not offer elective care outside of these hours.

The premise is located on the first floor, which is accessible by a lift. The property is leased by the provider and the premises consist of a patient reception area, and two consulting rooms.

The provider supplies private general practitioner services. The senior manager of the company is also 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.

As part of our inspection we asked for CQC comment cards to be completed by patients prior to our inspection. We received 13 comment cards which were all extremely positive about the standard of care received, across the services offered. Comments included that staff, were kind, caring, polite, friendly, helpful and patients said they were treated with dignity and respect.

Our key findings were:

• The service had systems in place to manage significant events.
• Risks to patients were assessed and managed, the service held emergency medicines and equipment.
• Policies and procedures were in place to govern all relevant areas.
• Clinicians assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance.
• Staff had received essential training and adequate recruitment and monitoring information was held for all staff.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• Information about services and how to complain was available online, but not in the reception area, and was easy to understand.
• Patients were provided with information relating to their condition and where relevant how to manage their condition at home.
• The service had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• The service sought feedback from patients, which showed that a large majority of patients were satisfied with the service they had received.
• The service was aware of and complied with the requirements of the Duty of Candour.

There were areas where the provider could make improvements and should:

• Consider advertising the complaints process in the reception area.