Archived: MASTA Travel Clinic - Solihull

Updated 18 October 2019

MASTA Travel Clinic in Solihull is located within the BUPA Centre.

The provider MASTA (Medical Advisory Service for Travellers Abroad) Limited has more than 170 private clinics across the UK. The clinic based within the BUPA Centre, located at 47 Station Road, Solihull, West Midlands, B91 3RT, opens on Thursdays from 7am until 4pm. Clients can contact MASTA customer services for appointments either on the telephone or online, they can arrange a telephone consultation be seen at the Solihull clinic or can be referred to a local pharmacy for the vaccinations.

MASTA Travel Clinic is located on the second floor of the building and it is suitable for people with disabilities. It is a few minutes’ walk from Solihull rail station and has good bus links. Parking spaces, including parking spaces for disabled clients, are available on the premises.

The clinic provides a comprehensive travel service which includes pre-travel assessments, travel vaccinations and travel health advice. The clinic is also a registered Yellow Fever Centre.

The clinical team consists of a female travel health advisor. An additional travel health advisor present on the day of inspection is also the regional area manager covering a range of MASTA travel clinics. There are no administration/reception staff based at the clinic.

Further information can be found at www.masta-travel-health.com

How we inspected this service

Before visiting the clinic, we reviewed a range of information we hold about the service. This included pre-inspection information we requested from the provider.

During our inspection we:

• Spoke with the registered manager who was the lead travel health advisor and regional area manager for service.
• Looked at information the clinic used to deliver care and treatment plans.
• Reviewed CQC comment cards where clients shared their experience and views of the clinic.

No appointments were booked during our inspection, so we did not speak with clients.

To get to the heart of clients’ 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 18 October 2019

This service is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspection 3 August 2018 – not 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 MASTA Travel Clinic Solihull. We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. 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 and to provide a rating for the service.

MASTA Travel Clinic in Solihull provides pre-travel assessments, travel vaccinations and travel health advice. In addition, the service holds a licence to administer yellow fever vaccines. All services incur a consultation charge to the client. Treatment and intervention charges vary, dependent upon what is provided.

This service is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 in respect of some, but not all, of the services it provides. There are some general exemptions from regulation by CQC which relate to particular types of service and these are set out in Schedule 2 of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. The provider has contracts in place with several large public sector organisations, where occupational health vaccinations and blood testing for immunity status are provided to the employees of those companies. These types of arrangements are exempt by law from CQC regulation. Therefore, they did not fall into the scope of our inspection.

The lead travel clinic 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.

As part of our inspection we asked for Care Quality Commission comment cards to be completed by clients prior to our inspection. We received four comment cards, which were all very complimentary about the standard of service delivery and the travel information provided.

Our key findings were:

• There were clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. Learning from incidents was shared across all MASTA sites and processes were improved where necessary.
• The effectiveness and appropriateness of care provided by the service, was routinely reviewed. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence based guidance and up-to-date travel health information and advice.
• Clients were provided with a personalised travel plan, known as a travel health brief, which contained a risk assessment, a record of their vaccinations and up to date travel information and things to consider specific to their destination including any additional health risks.
• There was a leadership and managerial structure in place with clear responsibilities, roles and accountability to support good governance.
• The provider was aware of the requirements of the duty of candour.
• Staff were aware of their own roles and responsibilities. They said they felt supported by leaders and managers who were accessible when appropriate.
• Policies and procedures were up to date and had been reviewed in line with the most recent best practice guidance.
• MASTA had introduced a revised policy, across all their locations, regarding the identification of children and parental responsibility.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care