Updated 5 October 2017
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.
Before visiting, we looked at a range of information that we hold about the clinic. We reviewed the last inspection report from 8 November 2013, any notifications received and information submitted by the service in response to our provider information request.
The methods that were used during our visit included talking to people who used the service, interviewing staff, observations and a 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.
Southern Slimming and Cosmetic Clinics (Plymouth) provides weight loss treatment and services, including medicines and dietary advice, to people accessing the service. The clinic consists of a reception, one consulting room and one treatment room located on the ground floor of a two storey building on Mayflower Road. It is close to the city centre and has nearby parking. The building is wheelchair accessible. The clinic is open four days a week for variable hours.
The clinic is staffed by a clinic manager, two female doctors and one male doctor, and two clinic assistants who also acted as receptionists.
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.
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 Clinic (Plymouth) 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.
Patients completed CQC comment cards to tell us what they thought about the service.We obtained feedback about the clinic from 12 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.