Aria Clinic

This service is rated as Good overall.

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Aria Clinic because the service had not been inspected since first registration on 24 May 2021.

This service is registered with CQC under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 in respect of some, but not all, of the services it provides. There are some general exemptions from regulation by CQC which relate to particular types of service and these are set out in Schedule 2 of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. At Aria Clinic, fertility services are provided to patients under arrangements made by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). These services are regulated separately by HFEA and are exempt by law from CQC regulation. Therefore, at Aria Clinic, we were only able to inspect the services which are not regulated by HFEA.

Aria Clinic primarily offers private fertility services and private gynaecology services to paying patients. Gynaecology services currently make up around 30% of the practice’s routine work; approximately 350 patients are seen annually.

The lead clinician is 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.

Our key findings were:

• There were safe and effective systems in place to keep people safe from abuse or harm, including a comprensive safeguarding policy and up to date staff training.
• There were adequate and effective systems in place for managing complaints, significant events and incidents, which were used to learn from and improve services.
• There was a high standard of cleanliness and infection prevention and control measures.
• Emergency medicines and equipment were well maintained.
• Staff training was up to date and well managed.
• Recruitment and induction processes for staff were comprehensive and records were well organised and maintained.
• Staff were given opportunities to complete continuing professional development courses.
• Staff recruitment and training showed a strong emphasis on maintaining provider vision and values of excellent patient service through passion, experience, teamwork, pride and positivity.
• Patients were very satisfied with the care they received.
• There was a clear focus on patient-centred care from staff.
• Staff involvement in the development of the practice was encouraged within team meetings and also through informal discussion with leaders.
• There was a strategy for quality monitoring and improvement.
• Staff described a safe and open culture where they felt able to approach leaders with any concerns, and enjoyed their work.

Whilst we found no breaches of regulation at this provider, the areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Provision of formal chaperone and sepsis training for staff as required.
• Clear safeguarding referral instructions for staff including contact details for the local authority to be added to the safeguarding policy document.
• Consider where prescriptions are logged and filed on the electronic records system to allow for easy monitoring and auditing.
• Keep a log of actions planned and already carried out following recent Legionella risk assessment.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Hospitals and Interim Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services