Archived: MASTA Travel Clinic - Gatwick Airport

Updated 1 August 2019

MASTA Limited is the registered provider of services carried out at the location MASTA Travel Clinic – Gatwick Airport. The head office of MASTA Limited (Medical Advisory Services for Travellers Abroad) is based in Leeds. The provider has a network of private travel clinics across the United Kingdom.

We carried out an inspection of MASTA Travel Clinic – Gatwick Airport. Regulated activities provided at this location are carried out by nurses and include pre-travel health assessments, travel health advice, anti-malarial medicines, travel vaccinations and non-travel vaccinations. The clinic is also a registered yellow fever vaccination centre.

Services are carried out from:

Rooms 1-3 Jubilee House
Furlong Way
Gatwick
West Sussex
RH6 0JW

The clinic is located on the ground floor and arrangements can be made to support clients with limited mobility to access the clinic from the adjacent airport terminal building. Pay-for parking facilities are available nearby at the airport multi-storey car park. Toilets are located on-site for staff and members of the public to use.

Clinic opening hours were Monday 8am to 7pm, Thursday 8am to 7pm and 8am to 4pm on Friday. In addition, the clinic was flexible in accordance with demand.

The clinic has two qualified travel health nurses working variable hours. Both nurses are female. Staff at the location are supported by clerical staff at the provider head office. Clinical support is provided by remote clinical advisors including a consultant pharmacist who also visits the location. The practice no longer has reception staff and all bookings are now handled by a central booking service.

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 25 June 2019.

Prior to the inspection we gathered and reviewed information from the provider. There was no information of concern received from stakeholders. During our visit we:

• Spoke with the travel nurse advisor based at the clinic who is the registered manager and had taken on a regional managers role. We also spoke with another regional manager who supported the inspection as part of the providers approach.
• Reviewed comment cards where clients shared their views and experiences of the service.
• Looked at documents the clinic used to carry out services, including policies and procedures.
• Reviewed client survey results.

To get to the heart of client’s 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.

This provider refers to people who use the service as clients and we have used this terminology through the report.

Updated 1 August 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 – Gatwick Airport provides pre-travel health assessments, travel health advice, anti-malarial medicines, travel vaccinations and non-travel vaccinations. The clinic is also a registered yellow fever vaccination centre.

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 service and these are set out in of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. At MASTA Travel Clinic – Gatwick Airport those occupational health related services provided to clients under arrangements made by their employer or a government department are exempt by law from CQC regulation and therefore did not fall into the scope of our inspection.

The travel health nurse advisor based at the location 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 CQC comment cards to be completed by clients prior to our inspection. We received 17 comment cards which were all positive about the service that had been provided.

Our key findings were:

• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and a system in place for reporting and recording significant events.
• The clinic had clearly defined and embedded systems to minimise risks to client safety.

• Staff had been trained to provide them with the skills and knowledge to deliver effective care and treatment.
• Information about services and how to complain was available.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The clinic proactively sought feedback from staff and clients, which it acted upon.
• The staff team looked at new ways to engage with the local community and were keen to explore research to improve services for clients.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Review the current temporary repair to the flooring in the treatment room to ensure a more appropriate permanent solution is found.

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