Archived: Albany Slimming Centre

Updated 16 August 2017

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Albany Slimming Centre on 30 May 2017. The team was led by a CQC inspector and included a member of the CQC medicines team.

Before visiting, we reviewed a range of information that we hold about the service which included information from the provider.

The methods that were used were talking to people using the service, interviewing staff, observation and review of documents.

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 16 August 2017

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 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 providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations 

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.

Albany Slimming Centre 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 on the market square in Harlow. It is open from 10.30am to 2pm on Tuesdays and Fridays.

There were three doctors, two female and one male, and one was available at each session. There was a manager who also acted as receptionist. The manager was 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 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 another clinic in England and two in Wales.

Patients completed CQC comment cards to tell us what they thought about the service.We collected feedback about the service from 14 people through comment cards and speaking to people during the inspection. People said the service was prompt, professional and helpful, and that the staff were friendly and supportive.

Our key findings were:

• Prescribing was in line with an agreed clinical protocol and appropriate records were maintained
• The service had governance procedures in place to deal with incidents and emergencies
• The premises were suitably equipped, and were clean and tidy
• Pre-employment checks had been made on staff
• The clinic did not offer a chaperone service
• Patients were provided with a range of information on diet, excercise and any medicines that were prescribed
• People told us the staff were welcoming and non-judgemental, the service was quick and friendly, and they were treated with respect.
• The service was flexible to fit in with patient choice: people could come once a month for a review and a repeat prescription, or more frequently for additional support and advice.

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

• Review the arrangements for assessing the risk of Legionella contamination.
• Review the safeguarding policy to determine an appropriate level of training and frequency of updates for each staff role.
• Only supply unlicensed medicines against valid special clinical needs of an individual patient where there is no suitable licensed medicine available.