We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 21 November 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 not 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.

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.

Bodyline Birkenhead is a private clinic which provides medical treatment for weight loss and has been registered with CQC since January 2018. 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 nurse lead 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.

We reviewed 28 CQC comment cards completed by patients prior to our inspection. The feedback was positive for the majority. Patients told us staff were professional, friendly and caring. The clinic and facilities were described as clean and safe.

Our key findings were:

• The facilities were clean, tidy and appropriate for people’s needs.
• Staff were friendly and caring and treated patients with dignity and respect.
• The new clinical record was implemented to enable monitoring of patients and appropriate 12 week review.
• The service had a clear vision and strategy that staff were involved in shaping and achieving.
• There was a comprehensive set of policies and procedures covering the clinic activities that were reviewed and updated at staff meetings.

• Supply of more than one medicine with the same action had resulted in a patient safety incident where a patient incorrectly took the two medicines at the same time.

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

• Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way so that patients are protected from the risks of supplying more than one medicine with the same action.

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:

• Review their systems for storing information to ensure relevant information is accessible to the prescriber at the point of consultation.
• Review policies that require local information to ensure this is in place, for example Safeguarding and medical emergency.
• Review audit action plans to provide assurance.
• 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