Background to this inspection
Updated
25 April 2023
RAMM London Ltd (AKA DR SW CLINICS) is an independent provider of medical services. The service provides a broad range of minor surgery and aesthetic services. The service specialises in sexual health and aesthetics. Some of these are not regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), but some services are, including injections and threadlifting. This report references only those services that are regulated by CQC.
RAMM London Ltd is based at 77 Harley St, London W1G 8QN . The service is for private fee-paying patients only, the service does not see NHS patients. The provider is registered with the CQC to deliver the regulated activity of surgical procedures, diagnostic and screening procedures and treatment of disease, disorder or injury. The provider primarily provides services to patients throughout London.
The clinic has six consultation rooms. There is one doctor, two healthcare assistants, three patient advisors, one clinic co-ordinator and a manager.
The service operates on Monday to Saturday:
Monday: 9am-6pm
Tuesday: 9am-6pm
Wednesday: 9am-6pm
Thursday: 9am-6pm
Friday: 9am-6pm
Saturday: 9am-6pm
The service does not formally provide a service outside of these hours. The service employs administrators who oversee appointments and administration for all patients.
How we inspected this 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 therefore formed the framework for the areas we looked at during the inspection.
Updated
25 April 2023
This service is rated as
Requires improvement
overall.
The key questions are rated as:
Are services safe? – Requires improvement
Are services effective? – Requires improvement
Are services caring? – Requires improvement
Are services responsive? – Requires improvement
Are services well-led? – Requires improvement
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of RAMM London Ltd (AKA DR SW CLINICS) on 13 March 2023. This was the first CQC inspection of this location under the current CQC inspection methodology.
The only doctor and clinical director is also the registered manager at the company. 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.
This service is registered with CQC under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 in respect of some, but not all, of the services it provides. There are some exemptions from regulation by CQC which relate to particular types of regulated activities and services and these are set out in Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. RAMM London Ltd provides a range of surgical and non-surgical cosmetic interventions, for example laser treatment which is not within CQC scope of registration. Therefore, we did not inspect or report on these services.
Our key findings were:
- Medical records were not always contemporaneous and digital storage did not always have sufficient security.
- Safeguarding processes and systems were not effective.
- Not all staff had completed training required for their role.
- Not all documents for staff recruitment had been reviewed or recorded.
- There were insufficient clinical and governance audits.
- Not all significant events had been recorded or investigated.
- Not all complaints had been recorded with responses or investigations.
- Health and Safety measures were not always appropriately risk assessed or logged.
- Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
- Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
The areas where the provider must make improvements as they are in breach of regulations are:
- Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients
- Ensure complaints are recorded, investigated and responded to.
- Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care .
Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA
Chief Inspector of Healthcare