Archived: Southern Slimming & Cosmetic Clinics Limited (Bournemouth) Also known as National Slimming & Cosmetic Clinics

Updated 9 January 2018

We carried out this inspection on 16 November 2017. The inspection was led and supported by three members of the CQC medicines team.

Before visiting, we looked at a range of information that we hold about the clinic. We reviewed the last inspection report from November 2013 and information submitted by the service in response to our provider information request. During our visit we talked to patients who used the service, interviewed staff, observed practice and reviewed 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 9 January 2018

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 16 November 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.

Southern Slimming and Cosmetic Clinics (Bournemouth) provides advice on weight loss and prescribed medicines to support weight reduction. The clinic consists of a reception, three consulting rooms, staff kitchen area and toilet; and is located on the ground floor of a commercial and office building near to the city centre. Staff include a clinic manager, four part-time doctors and two receptionists. The clinic is open six days a week, including Saturdays

This service is registered with CQC under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 in respect of the provision of advice or treatment by, or under the supervision of, a medical practitioner, including the prescribing of medicines for the purposes of weight reduction. At Southern Slimming and Cosmetic Clinics (Bournemouth) the aesthetic cosmetic treatments that are also provided are exempt by law from CQC regulation. Therefore we were only able to inspect the treatment for weight reduction but not the aesthetic cosmetic 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.

Patients completed CQC comment cards to tell us what they thought about the service. We obtained feedback about the clinic from 33 completed comment cards. The observations made were all positive and reflected that patients found staff to be friendly, helpful and efficient. They also said that the environment was safe, clean and hygienic. We spoke to three patients on the day of the inspection who were also satisfied with the service.

Our key findings were:

• Staff told us that they felt supported to carry out their roles and responsibilities.
• We found feedback from patients was always positive about the care they received, the helpfulness of staff and the cleanliness of the premises.
• The provider had systems in place to monitor the quality of the service provided.

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

• Only supply unlicensed medicines against valid special clinical needs of an individual patient where there is no suitable licensed medicine available.
• Review the need for appraisals of clinical staff.
• Review and risk assess the appropriateness of having a family member as a translator.