Background to this inspection
Updated
8 July 2022
Weightmedics is a slimming clinic located in North Harrow, North West London. It is part of the Weightmedics chain of clinics. There are a total of four registered locations. The other locations have previously been inspected and rated. This is a newly registered location. Information in relation to the provider organisation was reviewed in preparation for this inspection.
The clinic is located on the ground floor of a building which hosts other businesses. There is step-free access available. There is a reception / waiting area as well as a consulting room. It is across the road from North Harrow underground and rail station and local bus stops. There is street parking close to the clinic.
Weightmedics - North Harrow is open for face to face consultations on Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays. People can access video consultations with a doctor seven days a week. The clinic is staffed by a receptionist, and a doctor. A nutritionist can work remotely or from any of the other clinic locations to see patients via video link. Staff based at other locations can also cover shifts at this clinic. If for any reason a shift is not filled by one of the regular doctors, locum doctors familiar with the clinic can be contacted. In addition, staff at this location work closely with staff based at other locations within the organisation.
How we inspected this service
We gathered a number of documents from the registered manager prior to our site visit and reviewed them for this inspection. During this inspection, we interviewed staff, reviewed 25 patient records and spoke to patients.
To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we always ask the following five questions:
- Is it safe?
- Is it effective?
- Is it caring?
- Is it responsive to people’s needs?
- Is it well-led?
These questions therefore formed the framework for the areas we looked at during the inspection.
Updated
8 July 2022
This service is rated as
Requires improvement
overall.
The key questions are rated as:
Are services safe? – Requires improvement
Are services effective? – Requires improvement
Are services caring? – Good
Are services responsive? – Good
Are services well-led? – Good
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Weightmedics – North Harrow under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act (HSCA) 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This was part of our inspection programme to check whether the service was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and to rate the service.
Weightmedics - North Harrow provides weight loss services, including prescribing medicines and dietary advice to support weight reduction. The Nurse Director 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:
- The provider took action to review and prevent the future occurrence of adverse events and ensured that learning was shared with staff.
- The provider had robust systems for managing recruitment, induction and training updates for staff.
The areas where the provider MUST make improvements are:
- Ensure that care and treatment is provided in a safe way.
The areas where the provider SHOULD make improvements are:
- Only supply unlicensed medicines against valid special clinical needs of an individual patient, where there is no suitable licensed medicine available.
- Make a clear record of the rationale when a different approach to national guidance is taken in order to protect patient safety.
- Develop processes for managing medicines stock count discrepancies for all staff to follow.
Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care