Archived: THMG Watford

Updated 9 February 2022

THMG Watford Clinic is operated by LCHMG Limited, 34 Harborne Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 3AA and provides services from 34 The Avenue, Watford, Hertfordshire, WD17 4NS. The provider has 12 clinics registered with the CQC in England. A link to the clinic’s website is below:

www.harleymedical.co.uk/our-clinics/watford

In November 2019, The Harley Medical Group was acquired by Sk:n Clinics (who, in turn are operated by Lasercare Clinics (Harrogate) Limited). They moved into the clinic in 34 The Avenue, Watford, Hertfordshire, WD17 4NS with many of the facilities and staff being shared with sk:n - Watford.

This clinic first registered with the CQC on 24 June 2020 and is registered to treat patients aged 18 and over. The services offered include doctor consultation and doctor treatment services involving pre and post operative care for aesthetic and cosmetic surgeries and minor skin procedures involving a surgical procedure.

The clinic is located in a residential area with a few small private businesses and healthcare services nearby. There is onsite parking plus street parking outside the location.

THMG Watford Clinic shares a location with Sk:n - Watford (which is run by the same provider) and whilst some facilities are shared there are some rooms used exclusively by this service. On the ground floor there is one treatment room which is used for non-regulated activities, and a shared reception/waiting area, admin office, and staff kitchen. On the first floor there are four treatment rooms (one of which is used for regulated activities by this provider with the other three being used by Sk:n – Watford) and a shared admin room and mixed use toilets. On the second floor there are two admin rooms.

The clinic is open six days a week; Monday and Tuesday 10am to 7pm, Wednesday 9am to 8pm, Thursday and Friday 9am to 6pm, and Saturday 9am to 5pm.

How we inspected this service

Before the inspection, we asked the provider to send us some information, which was reviewed prior to the inspection day. We also reviewed information held by the CQC on our internal systems.

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 9 February 2022

This service is rated as Good overall.

This service was registered by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) on 24 June 2020 and this is the first time since then that it has been inspected and rated.

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 THMG Watford Clinic on 16 December 2021 as part of our inspection programme.

THMG Watford Clinic is registered under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 to provide the following regulated activities:

• Diagnostic and screening procedures.
• Surgical procedures.
• Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

This service provides a mix of doctor consultation and doctor treatment services involving pre and post operative care for aesthetic and cosmetic surgeries.

The clinic manager is the registered manager and there are other registered managers within the group who are always available for advice or support if needed. 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.

Due to the current pandemic we were unable to obtain comments from patients via our normal process of asking the provider to place comment cards within the service location. However, we saw from internal surveys and reviews on social media that patients were consistently positive about the service, describing staff as professional, kind, polite, non-judgemental and caring. Patients also commented on the clinic being well maintained and clean. We did not speak with patients on the day, as there were none attending for regulated activities.

Our key findings were:

• The service had safety systems and processes in place to keep people safe. There were systems to identify, monitor and manage risks and to learn from incidents.
• There were regular reviews of the effectiveness of treatments, services, and procedures to ensure care and treatment was delivered in line with evidence-based guidelines.
• Staff treated patients with compassion, respect and kindness and involved them in decisions about their care.
• There was a clear strategy and vision for the service. The leadership and governance arrangements promoted good quality care.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care