The Devonshire Clinic

Updated 22 December 2021

The Devonshire Clinic is a consultant-led private dermatology clinic offering treatment for skin cancer and medical dermatology services to adults only. All services are private and subject to payment of fees, with no NHS services provided. The service also provides non-surgical cosmetic interventions which are not regulated by CQC. The consultants working at the service have specialisms in complex skin cancer, rare tumours, skin issues in immunocompromised patients, dermatologic and Mohs micrographic surgery, photodynamic therapy, photodermatology, and genetic cancer syndromes.

The service is registered with CQC in respect of the following regulated activities: Diagnostic and screening procedures; Surgical procedures; and Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

The services are offered on an appointment-only basis. The service is open from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday, with late evening appointments until 8pm offered two days per week. Appointments can be booked by telephone or through the website: www.thedevonshireclinic.co.uk.

The service is situated in a serviced commercial block housing a range of healthcare services in central London, a short distance from Regent’s Park station. The building is managed by the UK’s largest private healthcare provider, and the service leases rooms from them. The service is provided on the third floor from one clinical room, one consulting room, and an administrative room with a small waiting area for patients. There is also a large reception area for all visitors to the building on the ground floor. There is suitable access and facilities for disabled patients.

In terms of staff members, there are six consultant dermatologists, a consultant oral and maxillofacial surgeon, a dermatology nurse practitioner, and a small team of management and administrative staff. All the doctors who work at the service also have substantive posts in NHS hospital trusts.

The service sees approximately 350 patients per month.

How we inspected this service:

We reviewed information about the service in advance of our inspection visit. This included:

• Data and other information we held about the service;
• Material we requested and received directly from the service ahead of the inspection;
• Information available on the service’s website;
• Patient feedback and reviews accessible on various websites.

During the inspection visit we:

• Spoke with the CQC registered manager (the provider’s Business Manager), the CQC Nominated Individual (the Medical Director and lead consultant), and an administrative staff member;
• Reviewed policies, procedures, risk assessments, meeting minutes and patient records;
• Carried out checks and observations of the premises and equipment.

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 22 December 2021

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 The Devonshire Clinic on 2 December 2021 as part of our inspection programme. This was the first CQC inspection of this location.

The Devonshire Clinic is a consultant-led private dermatology clinic offering treatment for skin cancer and medical dermatology services to adults only. All services are private and subject to payment of fees, with no NHS services provided.

The provider is registered with CQC under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 in respect of some, but not all, of the services it provides. There are some general exemptions from regulation by CQC, relating to particular types of service and these are set out in Schedule 2 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. For example, The Devonshire Clinic provides a range of non-surgical cosmetic interventions, which are not within CQC scope of registration. Therefore, we did not inspect or report on these services.

The provider’s Business Manager is the CQC registered manager. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the CQC 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’s founder, who is the Medical Director and lead consultant, is the CQC nominated individual. A nominated individual is a person who is registered with the CQC to supervise the management of the regulated activities and for ensuring the quality of the services provided.

Our key findings were:

• The service had clear systems to keep patients safe and safeguarded from abuse.
• Staff had the information they needed to deliver safe care and treatment to patients.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was delivered in line with current standards and evidence-based guidance.
• Staff had the skills, knowledge and experience to carry out their roles.
• The service treated patients with kindness, respect and compassion. Feedback from patients was very positive about the service.
• The service organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs.
• Patients were able to access care and treatment from the service within an acceptable timescale for their needs.
• There was a clear leadership structure in place and staff felt supported by management.
• The provider had a culture of high-quality sustainable care.
• The service had a governance framework and had established processes for managing risks, issues and performance.
• There were systems and processes for learning, continuous improvement and innovation.

We saw the following areas of notable practice:

• The service had established twice-monthly multidisciplinary team meetings, chaired by the lead consultant, for the service’s consultants along with specialists and clinicians working for the healthcare provider who managed and operated in the building. There was representation from a range of specialisms at these meetings, including dermatology, plastics, radiology, dermatopathology, and medical and clinical oncology. This was a forum for discussion of complex clinical cases and enabled peer-to-peer learning and input from a range of specialists.
• The service had a comprehensive programme of clinical audits, and audits we reviewed demonstrated a high standard of clinical care which exceeded British Association of Dermatologists targets.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care