We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 15 May 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 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.

Courthouse Clinics Body Limited Birmingham is a private medical clinic located 8 George Road, Edgbaston, West Midlands, B15 1NP in a converted house. The private body clinic is a location for the provider Courthouse Clinics Body Limited who has an additional six clinics across England.

The clinic provides a wide range of face, body and skin treatments. The service is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 to provide the regulated activities of; Diagnostic and screening; and the treatment of disease, disorder or injury. Not all of the services it provides are registered with CQC. For example, some of the anti-aging aesthetic procedures and laser hair removal do not fall within the regulated activities for which the location is registered.

The service inspected undertook blood tests and reviews of the results of tests for patients undertaking a specific weight loss programme. We did not inspect any of the other services, as these were not relevant to our regulatory role. The weight loss programme is available to anyone over the age of 18 who wishes to enter such a programme and agrees to four to six weekly blood testing.

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.

The regulated service provided at the time of inspection was based on patient demand. The national medical director and doctors with practicing rights supervised the weight loss programme and blood tests were taken in advance of their attendance to enable these to be reviewed with the patient when they attended for their consultation.

Our key findings were:

• The practice had clear systems to respond to incidents and measures were taken to ensure incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the practice learned from them and improved their processes.
• Systems were in place to deal with medical emergencies and clinical staff were trained in basic life support.
• The service carried out risk assessments such as a fire and health and safety risk to support the monitoring and mitigation of potential risks. There were systems in place to reduce risks to patient safety. For example, infection control practices were carried out appropriately and there were regular checks on the environment and equipment used.
• Patients were provided with information about their procedures and after care as well as costs prior to commencing treatment.
• Systems were in place to protect personal information about patients.
• An induction programme was in place for all staff and staff received induction training linked to their roles and responsibilities.
• Clinical staff were trained to provide them with the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
• The service encouraged and acted on feedback from patients. Patient survey information we reviewed as well as completed CQC comment cards showed that people who used the service was positive about their experience.
• Information about services and how to complain was available.
• The service had good facilities, including disabled access. It was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• There was a clear leadership and staff structure and staff understood their roles and responsibilities.
• There were governance systems and processes in place to ensure the quality of service provision.

Areas where the provider should make improvements;

• Include audits of the weight-loss program to the services existing centralised program of clinical audits to measure the effectiveness of the program.