The Care Quality Commission
  • Clinic
  • Slimming clinic

Archived: Bishops Green Cottage

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Bishops Green, Newbury, Berkshire, RG20 4HT (01635) 268236

Provided and run by:
Anthony Adam Schiff

All Inspections

28/10/2019 and 20/11/2019

During a routine inspection

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Bishops Green Cottage to rate the service for the provision of safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led services as part of our current inspection programme.

CQC inspected the service on 01 October 2018 and asked the provider to make improvements regarding safeguarding service users from abuse and improper treatment and good governance. We checked these areas as part of this comprehensive inspection and found these had been mostly resolved.

Bishops Green Cottage provides weight loss services, including prescribed medicines and dietary advice to support weight reduction.

Seven people provided feedback about the service via comment cards. All feedback received was positive. Comments included the provider being professional, caring, helpful and supportive within a clean environment.

Our key findings were :

  • Patients were positive about the provider and the service provided by the clinic.
  • The governance arrangements had improved from the last inspection but still did not ensure that the clinic was providing a high-quality service. This was because actions and timescales for completion were not always identified.

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.
  • Continue to develop systems and processes to ensure good governance with regard to the completion of action plans and recording of outcomes following audits.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGPChief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care

1 October 2018

During a routine inspection

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 1 October 2018 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.

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 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.

Bishop's Green Cottage operates three satellite clinics where it provides advice and treatment to assist people to manage and lose excess weight. Treatments include diet management and the use of appetite suppressants.

12 people completed CQC comment cards prior to our inspection to provide feedback about the service. Patients told us that they felt they always received good care and felt respected.

Our key findings were:

  • The facilities were appropriate to meet people’s needs
  • Staff were caring and supportive
  • The provider was open about his vision for the service
  • The provider did not have systems in place to record risk assessments carried out at clinic premises
  • The provider did not have a system in place to monitor when training needed to be refreshed

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

  • Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.
  • Establish systems and processes to effectively ensure service users are protected from abuse and improper treatment in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.

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 and improve the way in which medicines are disposed of from the clinic
  • Review the prescribing of medicines and only supply unlicensed medicines against valid special clinical needs of an individual patient where there is no suitable licensed medicine available
  • Review the way in which translation services are provided at the clinics
  • Review they way in which they record assurance from landlords around the safety of premises used.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGPChief Inspector of General Practice

13 March 2014

During a routine inspection

We looked at a sample of medical records and found they recorded details about people's care and treatment. We saw information about people's general and mental health, weight loss, medicines prescribed and further treatment plans. We saw that Body Mass Index (BMI) and 'target weight' were always recorded on the initial consultation. At each visit a person's blood pressure and weight was checked and recorded.

27 March 2013

During a routine inspection

We completed an inspection visit of this service on 9 May 2012. We looked at three outcomes on that occasion. We needed to look at two further outcomes to complete our inspection of the service. We chose to do this by asking the provider to send us written information and did not visit the service or talk to anyone who used the service when inspecting these two outcomes.

We found that the provider had a comprehensive safeguarding policy and procedure in place and renewed his registration with the General Medical Council, as appropriate.

9 May 2012

During an inspection looking at part of the service

We were not able to speak to people who used the service during this inspection. This was because during the inspection, only one person attended the clinic and was unable to speak to us due to time constraints. The issues that we were following up could be assessed using documentary evidence and by speaking with staff.

7 December 2011

During an inspection in response to concerns

We spoke to five people who had recently used the service. They told us that they were satisfied with the service provided. All the people said that they had discussed their medical history, diet and exercise with the doctor on their first appointment. They had also discussed the possible side effects and had been given written information about the medicines.