Background to this inspection
Updated
16 November 2022
The registered provider of Suntara Clinic has one location registered with CQC:
- 3 Frederick Treves House, St John Way, Dorchester, DT1 2FD.
Patients can contact the clinic by telephone, email or through the website:
Clinic appointments are available on alternate Saturdays from 9am-2pm.
The clinic provides an alternative means for patients to receive medical consultations, examinations, diagnosis and treatments by a general practioner (GP). It is an independent provider which offers private consultations and minor surgery to remove skin tags, moles, cysts, warts and cherry spots that are no longer funded by the National Health Service (NHS).
The service is provided by one GP and one healthcare assistant (HCA). They are supported by a
receptionist. The clinic is located on the ground floor of 3 Frederick Treves House with full disability access. There is a large car park to the front of the building, the local train station is five minutes away and there are frequent bus stops along the main road.
How we inspected this service
Before the inspection, we asked the provider to send us information about the service. This was reviewed prior to the site visit.
We also reviewed information held by CQC on our internal systems.
During the inspection we spoke with the provider, reviewed documentation and records including clinical records.
We made observations of the premises, facilities, and the service provided.
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.
Updated
16 November 2022
This service is rated as
Good
overall.
The clinic was registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) on 17 July 2021, and this is the first inspection since registration.
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 inspection at Suntara Clinic as part of our planned inspection programme.
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 exemptions from regulation by CQC which relate to particular types of regulated activities and services and these are set out in Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. Therefore, at Suntara Clinic we were only able to inspect the services which fall under the scope of CQC registration and the regulated activities.
Suntara Clinic is registered to provide the following regulated activities:
- Diagnostic and screening procedures
- Surgical procedures
- Treatment of disease, disorder and injury.
The clinic is a GP led service with the director also being the registered manager and clinical lead.
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.
At the time of the inspection there were no patients attending for appointments therefore we were unable to ask about the service provided. However following the inspection CQC received 10 positive comments via our website.
Our key findings were:
- The clinic had clear systems, processes and standard operating procedures to keep people safe and safeguarded from abuse.
- Risk assessments had been completed to assure the provider of the safety of the premises.
- The clinic made referrals to other relevant services in a timely manner.
- Patients were advised of treatment prices in advance and these were clearly displayed on the clinic’s website.
The areas where the provider should make improvements are:
- Information and guidance about how to make a complaint should be available and accessible to everyone who uses the service. It should be available in appropriate languages and formats to meet the needs of the people using the service.
Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA
Chief Inspector of Hospitals and Interim Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services