We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 8 January 2019 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.

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. Bodyline Warrington is a private clinic which provides medical treatment for weight loss and has been registered with CQC since January 2018. This service is registered with CQC under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 in respect of the provision of advice or treatment by, or under the supervision of, a medical practitioner, including the prescribing of medicines for the purposes of weight reduction.

The nurse lead 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.

We reviewed 32 CQC comment cards completed by patients and spoke with two patients during the inspection. All of the feedback was extremely positive. Patients told us staff were professional, welcoming, helpful and caring. Patients described the environment as relaxing and the clinic and facilities as clean and hygienic.

Our key findings were:

• The facilities were welcoming, clean and tidy and were currently undergoing refurbishment to improve patient accessibility.
• Staff were friendly, caring and treated patients with dignity and respect.
• Prescribers had access to relevant information at the point of consultation.
• A new patient record card ensured that relevant patient information was documented.
• The service had a clear vision and strategy that involved ideas and input from staff.
• There was a comprehensive set of policies and procedures covering the clinic activities. These were reviewed and updated at staff meetings.

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

• Review the frequency of audit to ensure actions are completed in a timely manner.
• Review audit actions and develop action plans to provide assurance that issues highlighted are resolved.
• Review the safety of patient access during the clinic refurbishment.
• Only supply unlicensed medicines against valid special clinical needs of an individual patient where there is no suitable licensed medicine available

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP Chief Inspector of General Practice