The Care Quality Commission
  • Clinic
  • Slimming clinic

Archived: Kings Private Clinic

Overall: Requires improvement read more about inspection ratings

602 High Road, Ilford, Essex, IG3 8BU (020) 8597 4321

Provided and run by:
Mrs Ingrid Camilleri

Important: We are carrying out a review of quality at Kings Private Clinic. We will publish a report when our review is complete. Find out more about our inspection reports.

All Inspections

27 February 2020

During a routine inspection

This service is rated as Requires improvement overall. (Previous inspection September 2019 – Inadequate).

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Requires improvement

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Requires improvement

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Kings Private Clinic under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act (HSCA) 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was carried out to follow up on breaches of regulations identified at the last inspection. CQC previously inspected the service on 12 September 2019 and asked the provider to make improvements regarding breaches to regulation 12 and regulation 17. Under regulation 12, we found that the provider did not have oversight of staff training, a system to manage complaints. We also found that medicines were not always prescribed in accordance with prescribing protocols and information was unavailable as to the prescribing decisions made. Under regulation 17, the provider did not have an effective system in place to monitor the quality of the service provided. We checked these areas as part of this comprehensive inspection and found that some had been resolved, however further improvements were required.

Kings Private Clinic provides weight loss services, including prescribing medicines and dietary advice to support weight reduction.

The clinic 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.

During the inspection we spoke to three patients. We were unable to obtain feedback via comment cards because of the short notice of the inspection. Patients were happy with the service and liked the fact that the weight loss advice they now received was more holistic.

Our key findings were:

•The prescribing was found to be in line with the prescribing protocol for the service.

•The provider had implemented a complaints policy and a system for managing them.

•The provider did not have a system in place for reviewing the effectiveness of treatments provided at the clinic.

The areas where the provider must make improvements are:

•Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

•Only supply unlicensed medicines against valid special clinical needs of an individual patient where there is no suitable licensed medicine available.

•Consider systems for the management of medicines stock

•Review the system for the management and actioning of patient safety alerts.

•Consider arrangements in place to support people who do not have English as a first language.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care

12 September 2019

During a routine inspection

This service is rated as Inadequate overall. (Previous inspection December 2017 – not rated.)

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Requires improvement

Are services effective? – Inadequate

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Requires improvement

Are services well-led? – Inadequate

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Kings Private Clinic under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act (HSCA) 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This was part of our inspection programme to check whether the service was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and to rate the service.

Kings Private Clinic provides weight loss services, including prescribing medicines and dietary advice to support weight reduction. The receptionist 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 received 17 completed CQC comments cards from patients to tell us what they thought about the service.

Our key findings were:

  • Patients using this clinic were very happy with the service being provided and gave us positive feedback about the service.
  • The governance arrangements did not ensure that the clinic was providing a high quality service. This was because there was poor management and oversight of prescribing, staff training and complaints.

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.
  • Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.

(Please see the specific details on action required at the end of this report).

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

  • Only supply unlicensed medicines against valid special clinical needs of an individual patient where there is no suitable licensed medicine available.
  • The provider should review the system for sharing of information with patient’s own GPs when consent has been granted.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care

12 December 2017

During an inspection looking at part of the service

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 30 May 2017 and found breaches of legal requirements in relation to Regulations 13 and 17 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

We undertook a focused inspection on 12 December 2017 to confirm the provider now met the legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to those requirements. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Kings Private Clinic –Ilford on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

We carried out a focused inspection on 12 December 2017 to ask the service the following key questions: Are services safe, effective, 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 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 (HSCA) 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. At the last inspection on 30 May 2017 we found a breach of legal requirements to Regulation 13 of the HSCA (RA) Regulations 2014, Safeguarding service user from abuse and improper treatment because clinical staff at the clinic did not understand that safeguarding principles were relevant in the service and staff had not received safeguarding training. This meant there were gaps in the systems and processes which operated to effectively prevent abuse of service users. We checked this as part of this focussed inspection and found that some of this has been resolved.

Also at the last inspection on 30 May 2017 we found a breach of legal requirements to Regulation 17 HSCA (RA) Regulations 2014, Good governance, because the provider failed to assess, monitor and mitigate the risks relating to the health, safety and welfare of service users, and others who may be at risk, which arise from the carrying on of the regulated activity. Specifically the provider had no systems and processes in place to monitor and improve the quality of services being provided. This includes incident reporting, emergency medicine risk assessments, communication with the patient’s own GP and calibration of equipment. Also there was no up to date appraisals system and continuous professional development training for staff working at the clinic. We checked this as part of this focussed inspection and found that these had now been resolved.

King Private Clinic slimming clinic, and has four sites across London and Kent. The Ilford location comprises of a reception, office areas, waiting room and one clinic room. A toilet facility is available on the clinic premises. There were two doctors, a registered manager, account clerk and a cleaner working permanently at the Ilford location. The service has also employed a regional manager and practice manager to work across the four sites since our last inspection.

The clinic is open on Tuesday 10am to 2pm, Thursday 10am to 1.30pm. Then re-opens 2.30pm to 6.30pm and Sunday 10am to 12.30pm.

Slimming and obesity management services are provided for adults over the age of 18 on a walk in basis.

King Private Clinic, Ilford has a registered manager in post. 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.

Our key findings were:

  • The provider had put systems and processes in place to prevent abuse of service users.
  • The provider had introduced some systems and processes to monitor and improve the quality of services being provided, including risk assessments for emergency medicine, fire and infection control. Also an up to date appraisals and continuous professional development training programme for staff had been introduced.
  • A comprehensive policy and procedures were now in place to govern the activity of the service. Medical equipment had also been calibrated.

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

  • Review the necessity for chaperoning at the service and staff training requirements.

30 May 2017

During a routine inspection

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 30 May 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 not providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations because safety systems and processes were not reliable, equipment was not maintained appropriately, some staff had no appropriate employment checks and relevant information was not shared with other healthcare professionals.

Are services effective?

We found that this service was not 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 not providing responsive care in accordance with the relevant regulations because the service was inaccessible to patients with mobility difficulties, although where the service was unable to provide services to patients with mobility difficulties, details of alternative services were provided. Information and medicine labels were not available in large print and an induction loop was not available for patients who experienced hearing difficulties.

Are services well-led?

We found that this service was not providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations because the provider did not have adequate systems and processes in place to monitor and improve the quality of the service being provided.

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.

King Private Clinic has four sites across London and Kent. We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at the location in Seven Kings, Ilford on 30 May 2017. The service comprises of a reception, office areas, waiting room and one clinic room. A toilet facility is available on the clinic premises. There were clinicians, a regional manager, clinic manager, account clerk and a cleaner employed at the service.

The service is open on Tuesday 10am to 2pm Thursday 10am to 1.30pm. Then Re-open 2.30pm to 6.30pm and Sunday 10am to 12.30pm.

Slimming and obesity management services are provided for adults over the age of 18 on a walk in basis.

King Private Clinic, Ilford had a registered manager in post (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 a legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run).

Patients we spoke to told us that staffs were polite, respectful and helpful.

Our key findings were:

We identified regulations that were not being met and the provider must:

  • Ensure effective systems and processes are in place to prevent abuse of service users.
  • Ensure there are systems and processes in place to monitor and improve the quality of services being provided. To include incident reporting, emergency medicine risk assessments, communication with the patients own GP and calibration of equipment.
  • Introduce an up to date appraisals system, and continuous professional development training for staff.

You can see full details of the regulations not being met at the end of this report.

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

  • Review methods to encourage feedback from patients and show how patient feedback is driving improvements within the service.
  • Review the necessity for chaperoning at the service and staff training requirements.
  • Review recruitment process to ensure that appropriate checks are carried for all employed staff.
  • Review facilities to maintain dignity and privacy of service users.

24 October 2013

During a routine inspection

We found that suitable arrangements were in place for obtaining the consent of patients who used the service in relation to the care and treatment provided to them.

Patients were positive about the quality of care and treatment they received. They told us "I am very satisfied with the information I am given." Another patient said "I am happy with my treatment plan and everything is explained to me." Patients told us that the doctor reviewed whether there had been any changes to their health at each appointment and checked their blood pressure.

Medicines were stored securely and records of medicines dispensed to patients were kept. Patients said the possible side-effects had been explained to them.

Appropriate records were maintained by the home to ensure that people received safe care and treatment. The complaints process was accessible to people who used the service.