Academy of Health and Diet

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Academy of Health and Diet Blackpool to follow up on a breach of regulations and to rate the service.

CQC inspected the service on 4 December 2018 and asked the provider to make improvements regarding governance arrangements and processes for managing risks, issues and performance. We checked these areas as part of this comprehensive inspection and found this had been resolved.

Academy of Health and Diet Blackpool is a private clinic that provides medical treatment for weight loss for adults over the age of 18. This location is one of two clinics with this provider. The owner of the service 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.

15 people provided feedback about the service. All the feedback was positive. Patients told us that staff were welcoming and caring. People felt the service was private and confidential.

Our key findings were:

• The premises were appropriate to people’s needs.
• The provider had improved staff communication with regular staff meetings.
• The governance processes had improved since the last inspection but required improved oversight from the registered manager. This was because some policies had been identified as requiring amendment and had not been verified by the manager.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Continue to develop and implement the systems and processes to ensure good governance with regard to policy updates and clinical audit.
• Only supply unlicensed medicines against valid special clinical needs of an individual patient where there is no suitable licensed medicine available.
• Review medical record process for documentation so that there is appropriate recording of co-morbidities and treatment breaks.

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

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 04 December 2018 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 not providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations

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.

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.

The owner of the service 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.

10 people provided feedback about the service by completing CQC comment cards prior to our inspection. All of the comments we received were positive.

Our key findings were:

• The service had clear systems to keep people safe and safeguarded from abuse.
• The service had reliable systems for appropriate and safe handling of medicines.
• The service engaged in quality improvement activity, however this required improvement to ensure identified issues were addressed.
• Staff treated patients with kindness, respect and compassion and involved patients in decisions about care and treatment.
• The facilities and premises were appropriate for the services delivered and patients were able to access care and treatment within an appropriate timescale for their needs.
• Some of the governance arrangements and processes for managing risks, issues and performance needed improvement.

We identified regulations that were not being met and the provider must:

• Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.

You can see full details of the regulations not being met at the end of this report.

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

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGPChief Inspector of General Practice