The Care Quality Commission
  • Doctor
  • Independent doctor

HealthHero Solutions

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Inspired, Easthampstead Road, Bracknell, Berkshire, RG12 1YQ 0300 002 4001

Provided and run by:
HealthHero Solutions UK Limited

Important: This service was previously registered at a different address - see old profile
Important: The provider of this service has requested a review of one or more of the ratings.

All Inspections

26 August 2022

During an inspection looking at part of the service

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We rated this service as Good overall.

At our previous inspection in June 2019, we rated this service Good overall, but rated the key question of Effective as Requires Improvement. We issued a requirement notice against Regulation 17: Good Governance of the Health & Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014

We carried out an announced focused inspection of Medical Solutions Inspired on 26 August 2022 to follow up on the breach found at our previous inspection. At this inspection, we inspected the key questions of Safe, Effective & Well-led.

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services well-led? – Good

Medical Solutions Inspired is registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide the following regulated activities: Treatment of disease, disorder or injury and Transport services, triage and medical advice provided remotely.

Medical Solutions Inspired provides remote GP consultation services to patients of eligible organisations and private medical insurance providers across the UK. Eligible patients can book appointments 24 hours a day, 365 days per year, using Medical Solutions Inspired mobile phone app, dedicated website or telephone booking service. Patients can choose their preferred consultation method from telephone, video or online consultation.

Due to the methodology used in this inspection, we did not conduct a site visit.

At this inspection we found:

  • Staff received induction training when newly recruited and had access to training on an ongoing basis.
  • Staff had received safeguarding training to the recommended levels in intercollegiate guidance and the providers’ policies helped staff to notify statutory bodies when there were concerns about patients’ welfare.
  • There were systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When they did happen, we found the service learned from them and improved their processes.
  • The service had policies, systems and processes to ensure staff training and qualifications were recorded, however these were not always operated consistently and effectively.
  • GPs followed best practice guidance and documented their decisions in care records appropriately.
  • They followed General Medical Council (GMC) best practice guidance and shared the outcome of consultations with patient’s own NHS GPs.
  • There was an embedded and continual programme of clinical audits to drive improvement in patient safety and quality of care.
  • Quality improvement activity was targeted and focussed on patient feedback and clinical outcomes and achieved improvement.
  • Staff involved and treated people with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
  • Patients could access care and treatment from the service within an appropriate timescale for their needs.
  • The service had experienced significant growth in demand for its services and had an ambitious strategy to continue increasing its services.
  • 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:

  • Complete the improvement plan for the accurate documentation of staff training and qualifications records.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

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

25 June 2019

During a routine inspection

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Medical Solutions Inspired on 25 June 2019. During our previous inspection in April 2018 we found the service was not meeting the standards of the regulations for Safe, Effective and Well led services and we did not have enough information to make a judgement on Caring services. The purpose of this inspection was to follow up the requirement notices we issued following our last inspection in April 2018; and in accordance with our updated methodology to inspect all key questions and provide a quality rating.

Medical Solutions Inspired provided telephone, video and online GP consultations to eligible members of various organisations across the UK. Member organisations offered their clients or employees (and sometimes their family members) the ability to book consultations by phone or online (via mobile phone apps and dedicated websites) 24 hours per day and for 365 days a year. Consultations could be by telephone or video and were unlimited in their duration.

At this inspection we found:

  • The service had good systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When they did happen, the service learned from them and improved their processes.
  • The service routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided, although we found gaps in documentation and record keeping in patient notes, which did not always reflect or identify guidance used or decision making processes.

  • We saw evidence of monitoring in the form of clinical guardian reviews and downloads of prescribing data. The provider could not provide evidence of structured quality improvement activity or effective cycles of audit which focussed on clinical processes. The provider had recently recruited a Chief Medical Officer to support this.

  • Staff involved and treated people with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.

  • Patients could access care and treatment from the service within an appropriate timescale for their needs.
  • There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.

The areas where the provider must make improvements as they are in breach of regulations are:

  • Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care

(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 Services and Integrated Care

19 April 2018

During a routine inspection

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Medical Solutions Inspired on 19 April 2018. We undertook this inspection as part of our inspection programme of independent health care providers.

Medical Solutions Inspired provides GP telephone consultations to eligible members of various organisations across the UK. Member organisations offer their clients, employees (and sometimes their family members) a 24 hour telephone service and access to a mobile phone app and dedicated website.

Our findings in relation to the key questions were as follows:

Are services safe? – We found that this service was not providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations. Specifically:

  • Arrangements were in place to safeguard patients from abuse.
  • We found the lead for safeguarding was not trained to the appropriate level and the provider had not ensured all GPs had received safeguarding training or checked competence.
  • Individual GP prescribing and performance was reviewed regularly, but prescribing audits had not been carried out.
  • Suitable numbers of staff were employed and there was a recruitment process in place.
  • We found recruitment files for GPs had some documents missing and induction records were inconsistently recorded and retained.
  • Most risks were assessed and action taken to mitigate any risks identified, although the provider had not identified any significant events or incidents that had affected the service.

Are services effective? - We found that this service was not providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations. Specifically:

  • Following patient consultations information was appropriately shared with a patient’s own NHS GP in line with GMC guidance.
  • There was evidence of an audit program but it did not drive quality or improve patient outcomes.
  • Non-clinical staff received the appropriate training to carry out their role.
  • The provider relied on GPs receiving appropriate training from their NHS employment and requested their certificates of safeguarding training to confirm this had been undertaken. However, no other training certificates were requested and the provider did not have a process to check clinician knowledge or understanding.

Are services caring? – We did not have enough information about this service to establish if they were providing a caring service in accordance with the relevant regulations. We have been unable to form a judgement on caring.

Are services responsive? - We found the service was providing a responsive service in accordance with the relevant regulations. Specifically:

  • Information about how to access the service was clear and the service was available seven days a week.
  • The provider did not discriminate against any client group.
  • Information about how to complain was available and complaints were handled appropriately.

Are services well-led? - We found some areas where the service was not providing a well-led service in accordance with the relevant regulations.  Specifically:

  • The service had clear leadership and governance structures.
  • A range of information was used to monitor the quality and performance of the service, although audits were tailored to individual performance and not used to drive quality improvement.
  • Patient information was held securely, although the provider had no arrangements in place to securely transfer patient notes if they ceased to trade.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

  • The safeguarding lead should receive safeguarding training at an appropriate level for their role.
  • Review the arrangements for confirming the location of the patient at the time of the consultation taking place.
  • Actively seek the views of stakeholders, including patients using the service, to specifically identify where improvements or changes to patient care may be required.

We identified regulations that were not being met and the provider must:

  • Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients.
  • Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.
  • Ensure persons employed in the provision of the regulated activity receive the appropriate support, training, professional development, supervision and appraisal necessary to enable them to carry out the duties.

You can see full details of the regulations not being met at the end of this report

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP

Chief Inspector of General Practice