DPCLINIC

Updated 10 October 2022

DP Clinic is led by a consultant psychiatrist who is also the registered manager. The service operates five days a week from 70 Harley Street, London, W1G 7HF. The premises consist of a shared reception and a consultation room on the first floor. The service offers online consultations where appropriate. The service is registered to provide the following regulated activity: treatment of disease, disorder or injury. The service focuses on general adult psychiatry, psychosexual medicine and gender dysphoria.

How we inspected this service

During the inspection of this service, the inspection team:

• visited the service and looked at the quality of the environment
• reviewed 10 care and treatment records of patients
• spoke with four patients who were using the service by telephone
• spoke with four staff members including the lead clinician, practice manager and two administration staff
• reviewed six staff records
• looked at a range of policies, procedures and other documents relating to the running of the service.

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 formed the framework for the areas we looked at during the inspection.

Areas for improvement

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• The provider should ensure that employment records include full employment history and explanations for any gaps in employment.

Updated 10 October 2022

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 inspection at DPClinic on 25 July 2022 as part of our inspection programme. We gave two weeks notice of the inspection. This inspection was the first rated inspection following registration with the Care Quality Commission

The service has a 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.

We spoke to four patients who provided feedback about the service. In addition, we reviewed patient feedback collected by the service via an online platform. Patients reported that staff were supportive and open about discussing treatment options. Patients could always speak to a clinician when needed and the service was prompt in responding to queries.

Our key findings were:

• The provider understood the learning needs of staff and provided protected time and training to meet them. Administration staff had additional training such as in autism and learning disability to support their role.
• The service used information about care and treatment to make improvements. Staff completed audits such as record keeping and infection control audits and used the results effectively.
• Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
• Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness and understood the individual needs of patients. They actively involved patients in decisions and planning their care.
• Patients felt that the service was personalised and that their opinions about their care and treatment were listened to.
• The record keeping system allowed staff to flag risks so that staff could see key information quickly.
• The service had systems to safeguard children and vulnerable adults from abuse. All staff received up-to-date safeguarding and safety training appropriate to their role.
• Clear governance arrangements were in place. There were clear responsibilities, roles and systems of accountability to support good governance and management.
• The service had arrangements in place to to refer patients to other services when needed.

However:

• We found three of six staff records did not include an employment history or explanations of gaps in employment as part of checks to ascertain a person’s suitability for any given role.

Jemima Burnage

Interim Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals (mental health)