The Care Quality Commission
  • Clinic
  • Slimming clinic

Archived: Harmony Medical Diet Clinic in Coventry

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

4 City Arcade, Coventry, CV1 3HX 07973 641649

Provided and run by:
Harmony (Your Gentle Way To Slim) Limited

Important: This service was previously registered at a different address - see old profile
Important: This service is now registered at a different address - see new profile

All Inspections

05 May 2021

During an inspection looking at part of the service

This service is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspection December 2019 – Requires improvement)

We carried out an announced focused inspection at Harmony Medical Diet Clinic in Coventry to follow up on breaches of regulations.

The key questions at this inspection are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services well-led? – Good

We did not inspect caring and responsive services because our monitoring did not indicate a change since the last inspection. The ratings from the last inspection have been carried forward.

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

CQC inspected the service on 4 December 2019 and rated it as requires improvement. We asked the provider to make improvements regarding safe care and treatment. We checked these areas as part of this inspection and found they had been resolved.

Harmony Medical Diet Clinic provides weight loss services for adults, including the provision of medicines for the purposes of weight loss under the supervision of a doctor.

The doctor 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.

Our key findings were:

  • Clear protocols were in place to support safe prescribing
  • The doctors provided information and advice to support weight loss
  • There had been improvements in monitoring risks and using information to make changes to the service
  • The provider had adapted the premises to support social distancing and staff followed infection prevention procedures

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

  • Ensure that staff continue to label medicines before storage
  • Review clinical records to ensure they continue to meet national guidance
  • Improve arrangements for access to medical records in the event that they cease trading
  • Only supply unlicensed medicines against valid special clinical needs of an individual patient where there is no suitable licensed medicine available

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

4 December 2019

During a routine inspection

This service is rated as Requires improvement overall. (Previous inspection October 2017 – Not rated)

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Inadequate

Are services effective? – Requires improvement

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Requires improvement

We carried out an announced comprehensive at Harmony Medical Diet Clinic in Wood Green as part of our inspection programme.

Harmony Medical Diet Clinic provides weight loss services for adults, including the provision of medicines for the purposes of weight loss under a doctor’s supervision.

The doctor 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.

17 people provided feedback about the service through comment cards and speaking with us, and their comments were all positive. They told us it was a helpful service and they were happy with the weight loss achieved.

Our key findings were:

  • Patients told us they had successfully lost weight.
  • Patient information was available in pictorial form.
  • Processes to ensure the proper and safe management of medicines were not effective.
  • Clinical audit did not include monitoring the quality of care against national guidance.

The areas where the provider must make improvements as they are in breach of regulations are:

  • Ensure that care and treatment is provided in a safe way.

(Please see the specific details on action required at the end of this report).

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

  • Review polices to ensure they are in line with current guidance and support consistent practice
  • Consider including a question on the quality of clinical care provided when asking patients for feedback
  • Review the arrangements for ensuring that the service only treats patients aged 18 and over
  • Review the arrangements for the retention of medical records if the provider ceases trading, in line with Department of Health guidance.
  • Review the arrangements for public liability
  • Only supply unlicensed medicines against valid special clinical needs of an individual patient where there is no suitable licensed medicine available

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