Ultima Vitality

Updated 13 October 2022

Ultima Vitality is provided by Mesopotamia Surgical Ultima Vitality Ltd. The service is located at:

718A Wilmslow Road,

Manchester,

Lancashire,

M20 2DW

Ultima Vitality is a private GP practice run by Mesopotamia Surgical Ultima Vitality Limited. The clinic is based in Didsbury which is a suburb of Manchester. There are good public transport links and paid parking close to the clinic.

The clinic is located on the first floor of the building and facilities include a waiting room; two consulting rooms, administration area, toilets and store room. There is no disabled access however the doctor will provide home visits if required.

The practice provides a range of services including medical consultations, travel immunisations, a sexual health clinic, hay fever injections and laboratory analysis.

The service is registered with CQC to undertake the following one regulated activity: Treatment of disease disorder or injury.

The set opening times are Monday to Friday 9am to 5.30 pm and patients can arrange for appointments at their own convenience. The GP also provides a service outside of these hours on request. There is one GP and one administrator employed by the service.

Another GP is based at the clinic on a Friday but is not employed by the service.

Information on the service and prices can be found the clinic website: www.ultimavitality.co.uk

How we inspected this service

We carried out this comprehensive inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the service was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

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 differently. This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site.

This included:

• Undertaking a review of information we hold about the service in advance of the inspection;
• Requesting a provider information return and additional evidence from the provider prior to the site visit;
• A shorter site visit to enable us to undertake a tour of the premises, interview the registered manager and receptionist, review clinical records and other documents such as management information and policies and procedures relating to the service;
• Reviewing feedback from patients;
• Further communications for clarification.

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 13 October 2022

This service is rated as Good overall. We last inspected the service in January 2019 but did not rate the service at that time.

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 Ultima Vitality as part of our inspection programme.

Ultima Vitality is a private GP practice that offers a range of services including medical consultations, travel immunisations, a sexual health clinic, hay fever injections and laboratory analysis.

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.

Comment cards were not distributed to the provider prior to the inspection in order to minimise the risks associated with the COVID -19 pandemic. No patients attended the clinic on the day of our inspection.

Our key findings were:

• The service was offered on a private, fee paying basis only and was accessible to patients who chose to use it. Patients were able to access care and treatment from the clinic within an appropriate timescale for their needs.
• The provider was aware of current evidence-based guidance and they had the skills, knowledge and experience to carry out their role. Systems, processes and records had been established to seek consent and to offer coordinated and person centred care.
• Systems and processes were in place to help keep patients safe including the maintenance of the premises, clinical equipment and the management of infection control, medication and clinical waste.
• Patient information had been developed in the form of clinic information leaflets and additional information on treatments available and the provider’s fees were available on the clinic website.
• Patients were encouraged to provide feedback on their experience and systems were in place to act on and learn from any complaints. Patient feedback was overall positive.
• Staff had access to ongoing training, supervision and appraisal.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Continue to develop and expand the clinical audit system and range of audits undertaken.
• Seek feedback on the quality of clinical care patients receive and evaluate and record the findings and any actions taken regarding feedback submitted via the clinic website.
• Take steps to provide an appropriate sink in the main consulting room and review how privacy and dignity is preserved for patients who need to undress during any consultations in the smaller consultation room.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

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