Supporting an Established Scandinavian Healthcare Provider with UK CQC Registration

Dr.Dropin is an established Scandinavian healthcare provider founded in Norway in 2017.

The organisation developed a model centred around accessible private healthcare, combining digital booking and technology with convenient access to doctors and specialist healthcare professionals.

Dr.Dropin reports more than 34 clinics across Norway and Sweden and subsequently entered the UK market with its first London clinic in Fulham. Its UK operation has since expanded its presence to Marylebone and reports having treated more than 10,000 UK patients.

Its UK services now include private GP consultations, dermatology, psychology, medical weight management, diagnostics and other healthcare services, delivered through a combination of face-to-face and digital consultations.

As an established overseas healthcare provider entering England, Dr.Dropin needed to ensure that its operating model was appropriately structured within the UK regulatory framework.

QMADS supported Dr.Dropin through its CQC registration journey.

Entering the UK healthcare market requires considerably more than replicating an operating model that has already been successful internationally.

Healthcare regulation differs between jurisdictions.

An overseas provider entering England must determine:

• which elements of its service constitute regulated activities;
• which legal entity will carry on those activities;
• which locations require registration;
• who will hold regulatory and management responsibility;
• how clinical governance will operate;
• which professional groups will deliver care;
• how digital and face-to-face services interact;
• what diagnostic and treatment activities will be undertaken; and
• how the proposed service should be represented to CQC.

The Dr.Dropin model also extended beyond straightforward GP consultations.

Its proposed clinical offering required consideration of different types of healthcare activity, including consultation, diagnosis, treatment, screening, procedures and family planning.

The challenge was therefore not simply completing a registration application.

It was ensuring that an established international healthcare model could be appropriately translated into the English CQC regulatory environment.

QMADS supported Dr.Dropin with the CQC registration process as the organisation established its regulated UK healthcare operation.

The registration needed to connect several fundamental elements:

UK Service Model → Clinical Activities → Regulated Activities → Clinical Responsibility → Registered Manager → Location → CQC Registration

This is particularly important for international healthcare organisations.

A model that operates successfully in another country cannot automatically be assumed to satisfy the regulatory requirements applying in England.

The application therefore needed to accurately reflect how Dr.Dropin intended to provide healthcare within the UK and which activities would fall within CQC's regulatory remit.

QMADS' role was to help navigate that regulatory pathway and support the organisation through the registration process.

The Dr.Dropin engagement demonstrates an important issue facing overseas healthcare organisations entering the UK.

Commercial scalability and clinical experience do not remove the requirement to establish a compliant UK regulatory structure.

Dr.Dropin's model combines:

Physical Clinics

Digital Patient Access

Private GP Services

Specialist Healthcare

Diagnostics and Procedures

For a provider with this breadth of service, regulatory scope needs to be considered carefully.

The structure must allow the organisation to preserve the strengths of its existing healthcare model while satisfying the regulatory requirements applicable in England.

Dr.Dropin successfully achieved CQC registration on 28 February 2024.

CQC currently registers DR. DROPIN UK LIMITED at its Fulham location for four regulated activities:

Treatment of Disease, Disorder or Injury

Diagnostic and Screening Procedures

Surgical Procedures

Family Planning

CQC classifies the service as an independent doctors/GP service.

Since establishing its UK operation, Dr.Dropin has continued to develop its service offering and now provides GP, dermatology and psychology services alongside other private healthcare provision.

The organisation currently reports more than 10,000 patients treated in the UK and over 300 five-star reviews.

That ongoing development is Dr.Dropin's achievement.

QMADS' contribution was supporting an important part of its UK market-entry journey: navigating the CQC registration pathway required to establish its regulated healthcare service in England.

International healthcare organisations entering the UK can face a regulatory challenge that is easily underestimated.

A successful international healthcare model still needs to be adapted to the legal and regulatory environment applying in England.

This becomes particularly complex where an organisation:

• is entering the UK healthcare market from overseas;
• operates an established multi-clinic model;
• combines digital and face-to-face healthcare;
• offers several different clinical services;
• provides diagnostics or clinical procedures;
• employs different categories of healthcare professionals; or
• intends to expand its UK presence.

These organisations require more than administrative application support.

They need to understand how their existing healthcare model translates into the CQC framework.

The Dr.Dropin engagement demonstrates QMADS' ability to support healthcare organisations at the intersection of:

INTERNATIONAL MARKET ENTRY + PRIMARY CARE + DIGITAL HEALTHCARE + CQC REGULATION

QMADS supports UK and international healthcare organisations with:

CQC Registration | UK Market-Entry Regulatory Support | Private GP Services | Digital Healthcare | Regulatory Scope | Policies & Procedures | Clinical Governance | Interview Preparation | Mock Inspections | Regulatory Consultancy