Archived: MASTA Travel Clinic - Harrogate

Updated 10 June 2019

The provider MASTA (Medical Advisory Service for Travellers Abroad) Limited has more than 170

private clinics across the UK. McKesson UK (a global pharmaceutical distributor and health care

information technology company) owns MASTA.

The provider is registered with the CQC for the regulated activities of diagnostic and screening

procedures; and treatment of disease, disorder or injury to be delivered at the MASTA Travel

Health Clinic Harrogate.

The clinic offers travel health consultations, travel vaccines and medicines, such as anti-malarial, to both children and adults. Consultations and treatments are charged either direct to the private clients or through the Yorkshire Health Network, as appropriate. There is a contractual arrangement with the network to provide travel health services to the patients on behalf of the 12 GP practices who are in the network. However, not all travel vaccines are available on the NHS and may incur a charge to those patients.

MASTA Travel Clinic Harrogate is located at Mowbray Square Medical Centre, Myrtle Square,

Harrogate HG1 5AR. It is located on the ground floor of a purpose-built health centre. They have access to one consulting room and a reception/client waiting area. There is disabled access to the building and toilet facilities are available for clients.

The Harrogate clinic opens 8am to 4pm Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Thursday opening hours are 11am to 7pm. Clients can book via the provider’s website or via telephone with the central customer service team. The clinic provides telephone consultations to support travel risk assessment, as well as face-to-face consultations, with a travel health advisor at the clinic.

The clinical team consists of three female part-time travel health advisors (who are all qualified and registered nurses). There is a receptionist, who is employed by the Yorkshire Health Network. The clinicians are supported by a range of departmental staff who are based at the provider’s head office in Leeds. They also have access to a Regional Area Manager, medical team and pharmacy staff.

Further information can be found at

Updated 10 June 2019

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.

MASTA Travel Clinic Harrogate provides pre-travel assessments, travel vaccinations and travel health advice. In addition, the service holds a licence to administer yellow fever vaccines. They provide services both for private patients and NHS patients who are registered with a local federation of 12 GP practices, known as the Yorkshire Health Network.

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 of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. At MASTA Travel Clinic Harrogate some services are provided to clients under a contractual arrangement through their employer or government department. These types of arrangements are exempt by law from CQC regulation. Therefore, they did not fall into the scope of our inspection.

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.

On the day of inspection, we had received 23 completed CQC comment cards, all of which were overwhelmingly positive. They described the service as being very good and efficient and staff as being professional, friendly, caring and informative.

During the inspection we reviewed a range of systems and processes relating to governance, service delivery and customer care.

Our key findings were:

• There were clear systems in place to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the provider learned from them and improved their processes across all their clinic locations.
• 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 received a personalised travel plan, known as a travel health brief, which contained a risk assessment, health information, including any additional health risks relating to their destinations, and an immunisation plan specific to them.
• Staff involved clients in decisions about their care and treatment. They treated clients with kindness, compassion, dignity and respect.
• 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.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Consider photographic identification checks for adults who have parental responsibility for children, in order to ascertain the correct identity.
• Review policies in line with their renewal dates.

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