Frosts (Online) Limited

Updated 9 July 2019

Background

Frosts (Online) Limited is based near Banbury, Oxfordshire. Frosts (Online) Limited registered as a provider in January 2019. Their services include consultations with a GP and prescribing of medicines. Frosts Online Pharmacy also provide pharmacy and NHS Prescription services, which are not regulated by CQC and do not fall into the scope of this inspection. These services, are regulated by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC).

We inspected the online provider which is known as Frosts (Online) Limited at the following address:

• Apollo Office Park, Ironstone Lane, Wroxton, Banbury, OX15 6AY.

The provider employs staff who work on site including a superintendent pharmacist, pharmacy and administrative staff. The GPs worked remotely and were contracted from another provider. An average of 2,150 orders were placed per month and there were 18,000 active patients in the last year.

The provider can be accessed through their website: www.oxfordonlinepharmacy.co.uk where patients can place orders for medicines seven days a week. The provider is available for patients in the UK. Patients can access the provider by telephone from 9am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday. This is not an emergency provider. Subscribers to the provider pay for their medicines when making their on-line application. Once approved by the GP, medicines are supplied by the affiliated pharmacy.

The provider has a registered manager in place. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the CQC to manage the service. Like registered services, they are ‘registered people. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations about how the provider is run.

The provider is registered to provide the regulated activities: Treatment of disease, disorder or injury and diagnostic and screening procedures.

How we inspected this provider

Before the inspection we gathered and reviewed information from the provider. During this inspection we spoke with the Registered Manager, Superintendent Pharmacist, dispensing technicians, contracted GPs, support staff and members of the management, administration and medicines team.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we 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 9 July 2019

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We rated this provider as Good overall.

The provider registered in January 2019 and this was the first inspection of the service under its new registration with CQC. There had been three previous inspections of the service under different registered providers.

The key questions are rated as:

• Are providers safe? – Good
• Are providers effective? – Good
• Are providers caring? – Good
• Are providers responsive? – Good
• Are providers well-led? – Good

We undertook an announced comprehensive inspection of Frosts (Online) Limited on 14 May 2019. The service is an online GP consultation and medicines ordering provider located in Oxfordshire. This inspection was part of the digital and online providers inspection programme to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Patients register for the provider on the provider’s website, select the medicines they require, complete an online consultation form which is reviewed by a GP, and if approved, the pharmacy sends the medicines to the patient.

At this inspection we found:

• The provider had good systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When they did happen, the provider learned from them and improved their processes.
• Patient identity checks were in place including higher level checking where the provider determined this was necessary.
• There were systems to monitor overuse or potential misuse of medicines.
• The provider reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence-based guidelines.
• The provider did not prescribe high risk medicines or controlled drugs. Their prescribing was predominantly for the treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED), sexually transmitted disease testing, smoking cessation and treatment and hair loss, among other conditions.
• All patient data was encrypted and securely stored.
• Staff involved and treated people with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect. Patient feedback highlighted high levels of satisfaction.
• Patients could access care and treatment from the provider within an appropriate timescale for their needs.
• Information about the provider and how to raise concerns was available.
• There was a strong focus on innovation, continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.

The area where the provider should consider improvements:

• Identify more proactive monitoring and audit of care via the clinical record system.

(Please see the specific details on action required at the end of this report).

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Providers and Integrated Care