Extracellular

Updated 15 September 2022

Extracellular is a private primary care general practice consultation service. They provide an investigation service including acute diseases, electrocardiograms (ECGs), blood tests, joint injections, microbiology and pathology and prescribe medicines and treatments. They also refer patients on for radiology, ultrasound and other private opinions as part of the treatment process.

Extracellular rent treatment rooms based at:

139 Manchester Road

Altrincham

Manchester

WA14 5NS

Extracellular also offer their service off-site at a patient’s home which enables the service to adhere to the accessibility standards for all patients.

Information about the service can be found at: www.extracellular.co.uk

Extracellular was founded by two general practitioners who also work in NHS practices and are familiar and up-to-date with general practice and national guidelines. All treatments are exclusively GP delivered and catered to appointments that suit the needs of the patient.

Extracellular is registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide the regulated activities treatment of disease, disorder or injury, diagnostic and screening and surgical procedures.

The registered manager is one of the general practitioners and the Chief Medical Officer of the organisation. 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.

The service working hours are currently one day a week on a Wednesday from 9am to 5pm. However, once demand increases the service will operate on a Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm basis with plans to further increase, by arrangement, if there is a demand for out of hours.

There are currently two staff associated with the delivery of the regulated activities and the administration. The doctors hold the positions of Director and Chief Medical Officer. The Chief Medical Officer and registered manager is currently providing the patient-facing treatment element of the service.

How we inspected this service

Prior to our inspection, a ‘Provider Information Return’ was received from the service and reviewed. During our visit we spoke with the chief medical officer/registered manager for the service. We also:

• Looked at the systems in place for the running of the service.
• Viewed a sample of key policies and procedures.
• Explored how clinical decisions were made.
• Viewed the patient record system and
• Made observations of the environment specifically the reception area and the office and stock room.

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 15 September 2022

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 Extracellular as part of our inspection programme. This was the first inspection of this service after the provider had registered with the CQC in November 2021.

Extracellular is a private primary care general practice consultation service. They provide an investigation service including, electrocardiograms (ECGs), blood tests, joint injections, microbiology and pathology and prescribe medicines and treatments. They also refer patients on for radiology, ultrasound and other private opinions as part of the treatment process.

The provider 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.

We reviewed feedback the service received from two patients. Those patients rated the service as ‘Excellent’ with five out of five stars.

Our key findings were:

The service had not been previously inspected as having been registered November 2021. Despite the reduced regulated activity as a result of the pandemic, we found the following areas of good practice:

• The service had enough clinical staff with the right qualifications, skills, training and experience to keep patients safe from avoidable harm and to provide the right treatment.

• The service controlled infection risk well. Staff kept themselves, equipment and the treatment rooms clean.

• Systems for the management of stock and emergency medicines, were operating effectively.

• Staff we spoke with told us how they would care for a patient in a respectful and kind manner.

• The service involved patients in decisions about their care and treatment and considered their individual needs.

• The service encouraged feedback from patients. Staff encouraged patients to leave an online review or complete a text message survey and these were used to monitor performance.

• The service had ensured staff currently employed, and those with a view to employment in the future, had appropriate inductions and training to cover the scope of their work.

findings

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Consider incorporating mental health questions into the consultation process for patients.
• Consider improving the way that information is collected to make it auditable in the future.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

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