We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 17 November 2017 to ask the service the following key questions; Are services safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led?

Our findings were:

Are services safe?

We found that this service was providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations

Are services effective?

We found that this service was providing effective care in accordance with the relevant regulations

Are services caring?

We found that this service was providing caring services in accordance with the relevant regulations

Are services responsive?

We found that this service was providing responsive care in accordance with the relevant regulations

Are services well-led?

We found that this service was providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations

Background

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.

Weight Medics Richmond is a slimming clinic located in Richmond, London. The clinic consists of a first floor reception area, a consulting room and staff offices on the second floor. It is close to Richmond rail and tube station, and local bus stops. Parking in the local area is limited.

The clinic is staffed by a receptionist, a patient care manager and a doctor. There are staff based at other locations that cover shifts at this clinic. If for any reason, a shift is not filled by one of the regular doctors, there are locum doctors who are familiar with the clinic that can be contacted. In addition, staff work closely with other staff based at the other locations. This clinic is one of five clinics that are run by the same provider organisation.

The patient care manager 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.

The clinic provided slimming advice and prescribed medicines to support weight reduction. It was a private service. It was open for walk-ins or booked appointments on Tuesdays or Thursdays to Saturdays for a minimum of four hours.

Patients completed CQC comment cards to tell us what they thought about the service. We received seven completed cards and all were positive. We were told that the service was excellent, and that staff always made time to listen to people, were helpful and flexible.

Our key findings were:

• All patients received appropriate treatment breaks that were built in to their treatment regimens from the beginning.
• The clinic appropriately refused treatment to people with low weight, co-existing medical conditions or drug interactions.
• The clinic actively sought feedback from users of the service. Any negative feedback was discussed at team meetings where staff came up with ideas for improvement.

There were areas where the provider could make improvements and should:

• Only supply unlicensed medicines against valid special clinical needs of an individual patient where there is no suitable licensed medicine available
• Review the need to carry out an updated audit to demonstrate the clinical effectiveness of the service being provided.

During our visit we spoke with people who use the service and staff. We saw the information that was provided to people who started to use the service was in a useable format and gave information on the type of programme available, exercise and the service provided by the clinic. The people we spoke with were happy with the information and support they had received from the staff. One person commented that "When health questions come up they offered solutions".

The staff members we spoke with were happy with the training they had received and felt supported in their role by the management. A member of staff said that "I feel well supported and was not left in the deep end when I started".

We saw that the medication was stored in appropriate cabinets and there were records showing batch numbers, date of receipt and its use by date. The record cards we saw had detailed information on the person's medical history, the medication dispensed by the clinic and their weight loss.

We met some of the people who use the service. They told us that they felt well informed about and in control of the treatment they received. They said that the clinic staff were friendly, welcoming and flexible. They told us that the treatment helped them to achieve their personal goals and to ‘feel better’.