We carried out a review of the data available to us about Harmony Medical Diet Clinic in Bedford on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Harmony Medical Diet Clinic in Bedford, you can give feedback on this service.
This service is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspection March 2020 – Requires improvement)
We carried out an announced focused inspection at Harmony Medical Diet Clinic in Bedford to follow up on breaches of regulations.
The key questions at this inspection are rated as:
Are services safe? – Good
Are services effective? – Good
Are services well-led? – Good
We did not inspect caring and responsive services because our monitoring did not indicate a change since the last inspection. The ratings from the last inspection have been carried forward.
Are services caring? – Good
Are services responsive? – Good
CQC inspected the service on 5 March 2020 and asked the provider to make improvements regarding good governance. We checked these areas as part of this focused inspection and found they had been resolved.
Harmony Medical Diet Clinic provides weight loss services for adults, including the provision of medicines for the purposes of weight loss under the supervision of a doctor.
The doctor 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.
Our key findings were:
The areas where the provider should make improvements are:
Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care
This service is rated as Requires improvement overall. (Previous inspection November 2017 – not rated)
The key questions are rated as:
Are services safe? – Requires improvement
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 Harmony Medical Diet Clinic in Bedford to rate the service for the provision of safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led services as part of our current inspection programme.
Harmony Medical Diet Clinic provides weight loss services for adults, including the prescription of medicines for purposes of weight loss. The service is run by a doctor and there are no other staff.
The doctor 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.
Nine people provided feedback about the service through comment cards and speaking with us. Their comments were positive about the service. However some were disappointed that, in line with national guidance, they were not eligible for prescription medicines or could not obtain a large quantity of medicines at one time.
Our key findings were:
The areas where the provider must make improvements as they are in breach of regulations are:
The areas where the provider should make improvements are:
Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 30 November 2017 to ask the service the following key questions; Are services safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led?
We found that this service was providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.
We found that this service was providing effective care in accordance with the relevant regulations.
We found that this service was providing caring services in accordance with the relevant regulations.
We found that this service was providing responsive care in accordance with the relevant regulations.
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.
CQC inspected the service on 6 July 2017 and asked the provider to make improvements regarding systems and policies to govern activities within the clinic to include: recruitment processes, electrical testing or regular calibration of equipment, infection control, fire safety, risks or response to medical emergencies and risks of lone working. We also required the provider to put in place a system to ensure the clinician had access to up to date safety alerts.
We checked these areas as part of this comprehensive inspection and found these had been resolved.
Harmony Medical Diet Clinic provides a private weight reduction service for adults and supplies medicines and dietary advice to the patients who use the service. The service operates from a first floor consulting room above a parade of shops in Bedford town centre. It is open from 10am to 4pm on Thursdays.
The clinic was run by one doctor; there were no support staff. The registered manager was a doctor but did not work regularly within the business. 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. The provider runs two further clinics in Coventry and London. The regulated manager provides supervision and support to the doctor who provides the service.
We collected feedback about the service by speaking to five patients during the inspection. Patients said the doctor was knowledgeable, and they received lifestyle and dietary advice in addition to medicines. Patients told us they felt supported to lose weight.
There were areas where the provider could make improvements and should:
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 6 July 2017 to ask the service the following key questions; Are services safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led?
We found that this service was not providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations
We found that this service was providing effective care in accordance with the relevant regulations
We found that this service was providing caring services in accordance with the relevant regulations
We found that this service was providing responsive care in accordance with the relevant regulations
We found that this service was not 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.
Harmony Medical Diet Clinic provides a private weight reduction service for adults and supplies medicines and dietary advice to the patients who use the service. The service operates from a first floor consulting room above a parade of shops in Bedford town centre. It is open from 10am to 4pm on Thursdays. The waiting area for the service was shared with other agencies for example a physiotherapist and as such the waiting area did not contain information specific to the slimming service.
The clinic was run by one doctor, there were no support staff. The registered manager was a doctor but did not work regularly within the business. 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. The provider runs two further clinics in Coventry and London. The regulated manager provides supervision and support to the doctor who provides the service.
We collected feedback about the service from seven patients through CQC comment cards and speaking to patients during the inspection. Patients said they received good advice, the doctor was knowledgeable and they felt supported to lose weight.
We identified regulations that were not being met and the provider must:
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:
From the evidence we reviewed during our follow up, we saw that an appraisal system had been introduced on an annual basis, and that records for continued professional development demonstrated ongoing learning. Where development needs had been identified, these had been incorporated into the yearly training schedule. Support had also been provided by a medical supervisor.
During our visit we found people's contribution to decision making about their care to be documented. We found that each individual had their medical history and any risk factors specific to them reviewed and recorded. A full appointment history/chronology of treatment was recorded for each individual. We found that the doctor was appropriately registered and maintaining some form of continuing professional development relevant to his role.
We found that people had a variety of methods available for them to share their views and opinions about the service. However, we found there were no appropriate arrangements in place to ensure the doctor received training, supervision and appraisal.
One person said of her visit to Harmony Medical Diet Clinic in Bedford: 'It's absolutely worthwhile using this service. I've been using it for years.' Another person said: 'The doctor went through every aspect of the treatment and I totally understood everything that was explained.'
Comments included. 'I am very satisfied and will be recommending people to visit', and 'I'm really happy to keep my diet going with the help of the clinic'.
People confirmed that Dr Hirsch gave a full explanation of the medication given out by this clinic, how it should be taken and how the diet worked. They said he was very approachable and encouraged people to ask lots of questions, which he responds to with appropriate explanations and advice about the steps people had to take to achieve an appropriate and healthy weight loss,'