Archived: The Elixir Clinic

Updated 29 May 2018

The registered provider, The Elixir Clinic Limited, provides wellness services, and specialises in intravenous and intramuscular vitamin therapy intended to promote and sustain long term wellbeing. The provider’s location, The Elixir Clinic, is situated at 75 Wimpole Street. London. W1G 9RS, where it leases premises in a commercial property. The Elixir Clinic premises consist of three consultation and treatment rooms, a reception area, toilet facilities and storage space. The Elixir Clinic is located on the third floor of the building and is lift accessible. The service is open from 9am to 7.30pm Mondays to Fridays and from 9am to 6pm on Saturdays.

The Elixir Clinic Limited is registered to provide the regulated activities of Diagnostic and screening procedures and Treatment of disease, disorder or injury. At the time of our inspection, no regulated activities were being provided in the service.

Staff employed at the service include a medical doctor, nurses, beauty therapists and administrative and reception staff.

Clients can book treatments on the same day or in advance.

At the time of our inspection, the service was not providing any services to treat illnesses. All their services were provided with the intention to promote wellbeing. The service does not treat children.

The inspection was undertaken on 19 March 2018. The inspection team comprised a lead inspector, a GP specialist advisor, a practice nurse specialist advisor and a pharmacist specialist.

During the inspection we spoke with The Elixir Clinic’s Director and Co-Founder, the operations manager, a nurse and two reception and front of house managers. We also analysed documentation, undertook observations and reviewed completed CQC comment cards.

To get to the heart of clients’ 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 29 May 2018

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 19 March 2018 to ask the service the following key questions; Are services safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led?

Our findings were:

Are services safe?

The provider did not provide regulated activities at this location which meant we were unable to assess whether the service was providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services effective?

The provider did not provide regulated activities at this location which meant we were unable to assess whether the service was providing effective care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services caring?

The provider did not provide regulated activities at this location which meant we were unable to assess whether the service was providing caring services in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services responsive?

The provider did not provide regulated activities at this location which meant we were unable to assess whether the service was providing responsive services in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services well-led?

The provider did not provide regulated activities at this location which meant we were unable to assess whether the 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.

At the time of our inspection, we found the services provided at The Elixir Clinic were out of CQC scope of registration and regulation. The service specialised in intravenous and intramuscular vitamin therapy intended to promote and sustain long term wellbeing. None of their services were provided to treat medical conditions. Other services provided at The Elixir Clinic were facial and skincare treatments, holistic treatments including body massage, reiki and reflexology; and diagnostics services of blood testing for wellness reports, food intolerance testing and mineral tissue and heavy metal analysis. None of these services were within CQC scope of registration.

When the service was started, the founders had intended to offer a private doctor service, but have been unable to retain a practitioner to date. Clients requiring private doctor consultations were directed to other services by the provider. The provider wanted to maintain their registration with the CQC as they are planning to move to larger premises in the near future, where they would be able to accommodate a private doctor service.

The Elixir Clinic’s Director and Co-Founder 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.

Three people provided feedback about the service, and their comments were all positive.

Our key findings were:

• There were systems in place to assess, monitor and manage risks to the premises and patient safety.
• Client feedback indicated that staff were caring and appointments were easily accessible.
• There was a clear vision and strategy and an open and supportive culture.

There were areas where the provider could make improvements and should:

Review current registration arrangements as they have not provided regulated activities since they were registered.