Archived: Courthouse Clinics Body Limited Watford

This service is rated as Good overall.

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Requires improvement

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 8 July 2019 at Courthouse Clinics Body Limited Watford as part of our inspection programme.

Summary of findings

The provider Courthouse Clinics Body Limited has seven locations nationally and provides a range of face, body and skin treatments privately.

The location Courthouse Clinics Body Limited Watford is registered with CQC under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 in respect of some, but not all, of the services it provides. There are some exemptions from regulation by CQC which relate to particular types of regulated activities and services and these are set out in Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

A range of non-surgical cosmetic interventions, for example anti-aging aesthetic procedures and laser hair removal which are available at Courthouse Clinics Body Limited Watford are not within CQC scope of registration. Therefore, we did not inspect or report on these services.

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.

We received patient feedback on the service through the seven CQC comment cards completed. All were positive about the service they received and were very complimentary about the staff.

Our key findings were:

• Some safety checks such as medical equipment calibrations and staff vaccination status in line with current Public Health England (PHE) guidance were not in place.
• The provider undertook minor surgical procedures. However, the current registration with the CQC did not cover the regulated activity surgical procedures for Courthouse Clinics Body Limited Watford location.
• Patients were supported appropriately throughout their treatment programme.
• The provider proactively sought patient feedback and used this to support further improvements.
• The clinic organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs.
• There were systems in place to respond to incidents and complaints. Learning from incidents and complaints was shared.

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.
• Ensure the service is registered to provide the regulated activity surgical procedures.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Develop plans so legionella risk assessments are made by a competent person who is suitably informed, instructed, trained and assessed as required by the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
• Organise an evaluation of the weight loss programme.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care