The Criswell Practice

Updated 8 December 2021

The Criswell Practice is located at 6b Sloane Square, Chelsea, London, SW1W 8EE, which was visited as part of the inspection process. The service employs one male GP (who is on the GMC register), and a secretary.

The practice was established in 1990 to provide private general practitioner services. The provider registered with the Care Quality Commission in 2020 to provide the following regulated activities of: Diagnostic and Screening procedures and; Treatment of Disease, Disorder or Injury (TDDI).

The practice serves a patient population of approximately 5500, consisting of both children and adults. The practice does not have a website, nor does it advertise anywhere, so patients at the practice hear about the services via word of mouth and personal recommendation.

The service is open:

• Monday to Friday 8:30am-6pm.

GP consultations are available:

• Monday to Friday 8:30am-5:30pm.

In addition to this, the practice employs an out of hours service, which provides services on evenings, weekends and bank holidays.

All services are provided on the second floor of the building, with the premises shared with another CQC registered GP.

How we inspected this service

During this inspection we:

• Spoke with a range of staff including a doctor, who is also the registered manager and the practice manager.
• Looked at the systems in place for the running of the service.
• Looked at rooms and equipment used in the delivery of the service.
• Viewed a sample of key policies and procedures.
• Explored how clinical decisions were made.
• Spoke with two patients to ascertain their views on the service provided.

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 8 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 Criswell Practice on 23 November 2021 as part of our rating inspection programme for independent health services. This was the first comprehensive inspection of this service.

The Criswell Practice was established in 1990 and was registered with the Care Quality Commission in 2020. The practice operates a private GP service for patients, providing consultations and private prescriptions.

The principal doctor 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.

As part of this inspection, patients of the practice were asked to give feedback to CQC about their experiences of using the service. We spoke with two patients about the service they have received, and all comments received were positive, mentioning: staff were courteous and efficient, GP had good knowledge and referral links with consultants, and consultation times were flexible to patient needs.

Our key findings were:

• Clinical notes were kept in line with best practice guidance, with evidence seen that thorough and detailed feedback from consultations was provided to patients.
• There were both reported and observed positive relations between staff and management.
• Referrals and transfers to other services were undertaken in a timely way.
• Comprehensive practice policies were in place and shown to be reviewed regularly.
• The practice adopted a person-centred approach to care and made conscious efforts to promote patient dignity and privacy. For example, soundproofing clinical room doors and playing low level music to reduce the risk of consultations being overheard.
• We saw no evidence of discrimination when making care and treatment decisions.
• Feedback from patients was positive about the way staff treated people.
• Information about how to raise concerns was available.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Considering fitting clinical rooms with elbow operated mixer taps to comply with infection prevention and control requirements.
• The practice should formalise the process and documentation with monitoring stock control and expiry dates of emergency medicines, defibrillator and oxygen and vaccines, and ensure these are formally checked on a regular basis.
• The practice should formalise business continuity and succession planning.
• Develop an audit programme to improve care and ensure adherence to best practice guidance.

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