Cantourage Clinic Ltd

Updated 13 December 2022

Cantourage Clinic provides medical treatment for patients focused around the use of Cannabis-based products for medicinal use (CBPMs) by experienced medical staff working within the latest Governmental guidelines. Patients must have exhausted existing treatment options and have conditions where medical cannabis has been proven to deliver a significant therapeutic benefit. The provider is registered with the Care Quality Commission to carry on the regulated activities of treatment of disease and Disorder and Diagnostic and screening procedures.

The service is located at Unit 6, 13 Ramsgate Street, London E8 2FD The provider entrance is accessed via a lift. The building is wheelchair accessible. The service has access to consultation rooms and a waiting area for patients. However, at the time our inspection most consultations were taking place online.

The opening hours are 9am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday. Patients can also book appointments for Saturday mornings on occasions. The medical team comprises of consultants who specialise in Psychiatry and Chronic Pain, an Operations Manager and three administrators.

How we inspected this service

We reviewed information sent to us by the provider remotely prior to attending the site to reduce the time spent on site in line with our Covid-19 inspecting guidance. We spoke with the clinical director, registered manager and administrative staff. We looked at records related to patient assessments and the provision of care and treatment. We also reviewed documentation related to the management of the service. We reviewed patient feedback provided both to the service and a third party.

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 13 December 2022

This service is rated as Good overall. This is the first inspection of this provider.

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 Cantourage Clinic as part of our inspection programme. This inspection was planned to check whether the service was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

The lead nurse 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.

Cantourage Clinic provides medical treatment for patients focused around the use of Cannabis-based products for medicinal use (CBPMs) by experienced medical staff working within the latest Governmental guidelines.

Our key findings were:

• Care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.
• The provider had systems in place to protect people from avoidable harm and abuse.
• There was a clear vision to provide a safe, personalised, high quality service.
• Some policies did not provide clear guidance to clinical staff such as the medicines management and the prescribing policy.
• All staff we spoke to felt valued by the leaders and said there was a high level of staff support and engagement.
• Patients could access care and treatment from the service within an appropriate timescale for their needs.
• The service had a comprehensive business development strategy that effectively monitored the service provided to assure safety and patient satisfaction.
• We saw evidence that the provider was engaged with other international clinics in relation to furthering the understanding and developing this area of medicine.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Establish systems to monitor that all patient records contain information to confirm that the decision to prescribe was made in line with relative guidance.
• Establish systems to ensure full audit cycles are completed and show clear actions and learning.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

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