Aurora at the Gatehouse

Updated 23 December 2021

Aurora At The Gatehouse is operated by The Private Clinic of Harley Street Limited. The clinic is based in Northampton and is one of six locations within the group. Facilities included two clinic rooms, a reception and a main office.

The clinic provides consultations for surgery, including cosmetic surgery for adults only. It does not provide services for children. Surgical procedures are carried out at a local hospital. The clinic offers consultations and pre and post-operative assessments and care. Consultations for varicose vein treatment included diagnostic ultrasound if appropriate. Blood tests and other screening tests are carried out at the clinic if relevant to a client’s pre-operative or post-operative care.

The clinic offers other cosmetic procedures such as Botox, fillers and electrolysis which are outside the scope of the providers registration with CQC.

Six consultants worked at the clinic under practising privileges. There was a clinic manager, nurse, patient coordinator, receptionist and housekeeper.

The clinic is registered to provide the following regulated activities:

• Surgical procedures.

• Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

• Diagnostic and screening procedures.

Clinic opening hours:

Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm

Tuesdays open 9am - 7pm

Open one Saturday a month

Updated 23 December 2021

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Aurora At The Gatehouse on 15 November 2021.

This was the clinic’s first inspection since it registered with the CQC under the current provider in February 2017.

We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service on a combination of:

• What we found when we inspected.
• Information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services.
• Information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.

How we carried out the inspection:

During the inspection, we visited all areas of the service. We spoke with three staff, the manager, nurse and receptionist. We also reviewed comment cards patients had filled in as part of the inspection. We reviewed five sets of patient records.

We have rated this service as Good overall.

We found that:

• The service had good systems to ensure patients received safe and effective care and treatment.
• There was an effective system to identify and safeguard people from abuse.
• The service routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence-based guidelines.
• Staff involved and treated people with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect. Patient feedback received through CQC comment cards supported this.
• Patients could access care and treatment within their preferred timescales.
• Leaders were visible and approachable. Staff expressed positive views on their working relationships with managers.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• The provider should ensure the defibrillator has pads for use that are in date.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care