We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 19 July 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.

Summary of Findings

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.

Nuffield Health Cannock Fitness and Wellbeing Centre is part of the Nuffield Health UK health organisation. The Centre is located in Cannock, Staffordshire and was acquired by the organisation in 2007. The health clinic opened within the centre in 2008 and provides a range of health assessments and physiotherapy services to adults. Services are delivered in a purpose built clinic located within the centre and are provided privately and are not commissioned by the NHS. Following a detailed assessment and screening process patients receive a consultation with a doctor to discuss the findings of the results and any recommended lifestyle changes or treatment planning. Patients can choose to be seen at one of the other nearby or wider health and wellbeing centres managed by the provider across the UK.

The site is managed by a General Manager, who is also the registered manager. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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.

As part of the inspection we received 17 completed CQC comment cards from patients using the services provided by the clinic. We also spoke with one patient during the inspection. The overall feedback clearly demonstrated positive outcomes for patients. Patients spoke very highly of the services they received from the clinic and told us they would recommend the clinic to others. Patients told us their health assessments were thorough and physiotherapy treatments had improved the quality of their lives. They also told us they were treated with kindness and respect and described staff as very professional, courteous, friendly, efficient, polite and caring. Customer satisfaction survey results highlighted positive satisfaction rates with regards to the services provided at the clinic. Staff we spoke with told us they were very well supported in their work, felt valued and were proud to be part of the team and the organisation.

Our key findings were:

• Patients had access to and received detailed and clear information about the health assessments which enabled them to make an informed decision.
• Patients were offered convenient and flexible appointments at a time convenient to them.
• Staff helped patients be involved in decisions about their care and treatment. Patients’ needs were fully assessed and any treatment was tailored to individual needs and delivered in line with current evidence based guidance.
• Staff had access to the information they needed to plan and deliver care and treatment in a timely and accessible way. There was evidence to demonstrate that the service operated a safe, effective and timely referral process.
• There were effective procedures in place for monitoring and managing risks to patient and staff safety.
• There was a transparent approach to safety and effective systems in place for reporting and recording adverse incidents.
• The service had clearly defined processes and well embedded systems in place to keep patients safe and safeguarded them from abuse.
• There was a clear staffing structure and staff were aware of their own roles and responsibilities.
• Staff were supported with their personal development and received opportunities for supervision, training, coaching and mentoring appropriate to their work.
• The provider operated safe and effective recruitment procedures to ensure staff were suitable for their role.
• Arrangements were in place for planning and monitoring the number of staff and mix of staff needed to meet patients’ needs.
• There was evidence of continuous quality improvement across various areas which were regularly reviewed through a range of audit, monitoring of key performance indictors adherence to regulatory and best practice standards.

However, there were also areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

The provider should:

• Consider documenting verbal complaints and comments to help identify any trends and themes.

During our visit to the Nuffield Health Cannock Fitness and Wellbeing Centre, we spoke with the registered manager and doctor working at the centre. We also spoke with one person who had visited the Fitness and Wellbeing Centre. This person told us they were pleased with the service they received. They said: “I find the doctor very good at explaining things in a clear and precise way”.

We found that there were effective systems in place for recording and reviewing all aspects of a person’s consent. We found that people who used the service were given appropriate information and support regarding their treatment. The person we spoke with told us that they had previous experience and sufficient information to help them understand what would happen during their assessment. Comments included: “It’s a very good service” and “Any questions I have are always answered”.

The registered manager showed us details of the fees people had to pay for the services offered. We found that people had access to the cost of each assessment when they received information about the service.

We found that the provider had robust systems in place to monitor and respond appropriately to any complaint received from people who used their services.

During this visit we reviewed five outcomes which we have found to be compliant. We found that people's needs and risks had been assessed and treatment planned and delivered in line with their needs. We spoke briefly with one person who used the service on the day of our inspection. The person we spoke with told us that the staff had treated them with dignity and respect and had been very helpful to them. We gathered further evidence of people's experiences from completed satisfaction surveys that had been carried out by the service. One of the comments we read said, “All of the staff were very helpful and professional”.

We found that people who used the service were given appropriate information and support regarding their treatment. The person we spoke with told us that they had received sufficient information to help them understand what would happen during the procedure.

We saw that systems were in place to protect people from abuse and discussions with the registered manager confirmed that they knew who to approach and what to do should there be any concerns in this area.

We found that the provider had robust systems in place to monitor the quality of services they delivered to people who used Nuffield Health Cannock Fitness and Wellbeing Centre.