Updated 18 August 2023
Embankment Place Primary Healthcare is located at 1 Embankment Place, London, WC2N 6RH. There is also a smaller clinic providing the same range of services at Abbots Lane, 139 Tooley Street, SE1 2HZ. Both of the sites are fully accessible, for example with lift access. The service is funded by PwC UK (PwC) and is led by a board with stakeholder representatives. The service is established as an independent legal entity.
At the time of the inspection there were around 3500 registered patients, around 80 of whom were under 18.
The main clinic occupies a purpose-designed area adjacent to the main PwC office complex at Embankment Place. The service can be accessed from the offices or via a separate entrance. The branch clinic is located adjacent to the PwC office on the upper floors of a separate building and is accessible by lift.
The service provides an independent GP service, medical examinations, screening and health checks to the partners and directors of PwC and their family members. The service provides a travel health service including yellow fever vaccinations. The independent GP service is open to the dependent family members of partners and directors including children over the age of 13 years.
The clinical team includes 6 GPs, 4 advanced nurse practitioners and 3 physiologists. The service also employs managerial staff including a pharmacist manager and a PwC director. The service contracts with external companies to provide physiotherapists and the reception team (known internally as the ‘front of house’ team) and cleaning/housekeeping staff.
The service offers appointments on weekdays between the hours of 8.30am and 5.30pm. Appointments can be booked in person, by telephone or email request. The service does not provide out-of-hours, emergency medical care. When the service is closed, patients are signposted to urgent and emergency services if required.
The service provides the regulated activities of: treatment of disease, disorder or injury; and, diagnostic and screening procedures.
How we inspected this service
This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site. This was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements.
This included:
- Requesting evidence from the provider in advance.
- Conducting staff interviews the managers, and a non-clinical staff member.
- A site visit to review a sample of service user records and consultations and an interview with the clinic doctors to discuss the findings.
To get to the heart of patients’ 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?
These questions therefore formed the framework for the areas we looked at during the inspection.