Ear Care Nurse

Updated 17 April 2023

The registered provider is Ear Care Nurse, and the service is operated from the following address:

4 Pinder’s Court

High Street

Bawtry

Doncaster

DN10 6JA

The Ear Care Nurse is a stand-alone aural care service which specialises in ear wax removal by micro suction. Micro suction is a wax-removal technique which uses loupe glasses. Irrigation is done using an electronic irrigator and instrumentation. Services are provided on a fee-paying basis only. No NHS funded treatment is available. The service offers consultations and treatment to both adults and children. More information can be found at www.earcarenurse.net.

This service is registered with Care Quality Commission (CQC) under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 for the provision of the regulated activity, Treatment of disease, disorder, or injury.

The service is open Monday to Sunday between 8.30am and 6.30pm.

How we inspected this service

Throughout the pandemic CQC has continued to regulate and respond to risk. However, taking into account the circumstances arising as a result of the pandemic, and in order to reduce risk, we have conducted our inspections in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site. We conducted staff interviews using video conferencing, sought feedback from patients and requested documents to be reviewed in advance and carried out a short site visit.

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 17 April 2023

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 Ear Care Nurse as part of our inspection programme.

The Ear Care Nurse is a stand-alone aural care service which specialises in ear wax removal by micro suction, irrigation and instrumentation.

The lead specialist nurse 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.

Feedback we received from patients who have used the service was positive. We received feedback from 2 patients. They said the service was excellent and spoke highly of staff and their professionalism, care, empathy, support, expertise, and patience. Patients felt fully involved in their care; everything was explained including the risks in a safe, relaxed, and secure environment.

Our key findings were:

• The service had systems to assess, monitor and manage risks to patient safety.
• The service assessed need and delivered care in line with current legislation, standards, and evidence-based guidance.
• The service treated patients with kindness, respect, and compassion.
• Services are tailored to meet the needs of individual patients and are delivered in a way to ensure flexibility and choice. Patients could access services and appointments in a way and at a time that suited them. Services were tailored to meet the needs of individual people and are delivered in a way to ensure flexibility, choice, and continuity of care. Appointments were available Monday to Sunday between 8.30am and 6.30pm.
• The leadership, governance and culture are used to drive and improve the delivery of high-quality person-centred care.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

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