Your Travel Clinic

Updated 23 December 2019

Your Travel Clinic was established in 2004 and provides travel health services including vaccinations, medicines and advice on travel related issues to both adults and children travelling for business or leisure. The service is a designated yellow fever vaccination centre. Services are available to any fee-paying patient.

The service is based in a fully accessible purpose-built property which contains multiple healthcare providers. This includes NHS GP services, dentists and hospital outpatient services. The service has been based at this site since 2012.

Patients are directed to the second floor of the building – which is accessible via lift or stairs – to the service’s reception and waiting area which is shared with an NHS GP practice. The service uses consultation rooms and administrative space within the building.

Information from the service indicates there are approximately 50 patient appointments per month. About 40% of these are patients who have visited the service at least once before.

The service staff consists of a GP (who is the registered manager) and a practice manager. Some administrative functions are carried out by staff from the neighbouring GP practice.

Services are available – by appointment only – at the following times:

• Mondays – 8am to 6.30pm;
• Tuesdays – 8am to 1pm;
• Thursdays and Fridays – 8.30am to 6.30pm;
• Every other Saturday – 10am to 1pm.

The service is fully accessible for wheelchair users. Two lifts are available. A tube station is approximately half a mile away.

The service website address is: www.yourtravelclinic.com

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 undertook a range of approaches. This included interviewing clinical and non-clinical staff, reviewing feedback from patients who had used the service, speaking with patients, reviewing documents, examining electronic systems, and assessing the building 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 23 December 2019

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Your Travel Clinic on 16 October 2019 as part of our current inspection programme. We previously inspected this service on 3 May 2018 using our previous methodology, where we did not apply ratings.

Your Travel Clinic provides travel health services to both adults and children travelling for business or leisure. The service is a designated yellow fever vaccination centre.

Services are available to any fee-paying patient.

The sole GP based at the site 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.

We received 17 completed CQC comment cards, of which 15 were fully positive about the service and two provided mixed feedback. Patients commented that the staff were caring, the service was efficient, the environment was clean and comfortable, and that clear, detailed information was provided.

Our key findings were:

• The service provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and a system in place for recording, reporting and learning from significant events and incidents. The service had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents happened, the service learned from them and reviewed their processes to implement improvements.
• There were clearly defined and embedded systems, processes and practices to keep people safe and safeguarded from abuse, and for identifying and mitigating risks of health and safety.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• The service organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs. Patients said that they could access care and treatment in a timely way.
• The service reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence-based guidelines and best practice.
• Patients told us that all staff treated them with kindness and respect and that they felt involved in discussions about their options.
• Patient satisfaction with the service was high.
• Staff had the appropriate skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
• The service took complaints and concerns seriously and responded to them appropriately to improve the quality of care.

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