Archived: Courthouse Clinics Body Limited Birmingham

Updated 3 July 2019

Courthouse Clinics Body Limited Birmingham is a private medical clinic which provides a range of services including the delivery of a weight loss programme under the supervision of a qualified doctor. The weight loss programme is the only service the clinic provides which falls within the scope of registration. The inspection and report therefore only covers this aspect of the service. The weight loss programme is available to anyone over the age of 18 years and involves regular blood test monitoring. Further details about the services provided can be found on the location’s website: www.courthouseclinics.com.

The clinic is based in a converted house in Edgbaston, Birmingham. The service is provided across two floors. There is no lift access but patients who may experience difficulties accessing the first floor can be seen on the ground floor.

The service is open 9am to 7pm Monday to Saturday with the exception of Thursdays when the service is open between 9am to 8pm and Saturday when the service is open between 9am and 5pm. Patients can access appointments by telephone or in person. The service estimates that there were 30 patients on the weight loss programme in the last year.

Staffing includes two doctors who regularly hold clinics in Birmingham (the doctors are shared across the provider’s various locations). There is a clinic manager, four therapists, and a front of house. There is also weight loss co-ordinator who supports all patients on the weight loss programme at all the provider’s locations.

The provider is registered with CQC for the following regulated activities: Diagnostic and screening procedure and Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

How we inspected this service

Before visiting, we reviewed information we hold about the service, including information from the previous inspection. We also asked the provider to send us some information about the service.

During our visit we:

• Spoke with the doctors and clinic staff.
• Reviewed comment cards where patients shared their views and experiences of the service.
• Reviewed documentary evidence that was made available to us relating to the running of the service.
• We reviewed a sample of patient records to understand how the provider assessed and documented patients care and treatment. We also used this to assess how consent was obtained.
• We made observations of the facilities that were used for providing the service.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we always ask the following five questions:

• Is it safe?
• Is it effective?
• Is it caring?
• Is it responsive to people’s needs?
• Is it well-led?

These questions therefore formed the framework for the areas we looked at during the inspection.

Updated 3 July 2019

This service is rated as Good overall. (The service was previously inspected 15 May 2018 but was not rated.)

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Courthouse Clinics Body Limited Birmingham as part of our inspection programme.

The provider Courthouse Clinics Body Limited has seven other locations nationally registered with CQC providing a range of face, body and skin treatments privately.

This service 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. Courthouse Clinics Body Limited Birmingham provides a range of non-surgical cosmetic interventions, for example anti-aging aesthetic procedures and laser hair removal which 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 24 CQC comment cards completed. All were positive about the service they received and were very complimentary about the staff.

Our key findings were:

• The provider had systems and processes in place to keep patients safe and safeguarded from harm. However, we identified that not all clinical staff had completed child safeguarding training to a level three, staff told us that they did not see or treat patients under 18 years and under the terms and conditions of the service children were not permitted into the premises.
• The premises appeared clean and well maintained.
• Incidents and complaints were used to support learning and improvement.
• There were systems in place for managing risks.
• Staff were given appropriate support and training to carry out their roles and responsibilities.
• Patients were well supported throughout their treatment programme.
• The provider proactively sought patient feedback and used this to support further improvements.
• Patient feedback through our CQC comment cards and the patients’ in-house surveys was very positive.
• The clinic was well organised with clear leadership and governance arrangements.
• We saw evidence of service improvement activity however, the provider had not yet undertaken any formal evaluation of their weight loss programme.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Undertake formal evaluation of the weight loss programme to help review the effectiveness of the programme.

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