Archived: Weightmedics - Edgware Road

Updated 6 August 2021

Weightmedics – Edgware Road is a slimming clinic that is part of the Weightmedics chain of clinics. It is situated on the first floor of 406 Edgware Road, close to the tube station and local bus stops. Parking in the local area is limited. There are a total of four registered locations. Three locations have been previously inspected and rated. This location has newly registered with CQC and this is the first inspection.

The clinic consists of a reception area, a consulting room and a staff office on the first floor of 406 Edgware Road. Parking in the local area is limited and the building does not have step free access. Weightmedics – Edgware Road is open for face to face consultations on Mondays, Tuesday, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. People can also access video consultations with a doctor or a patient care manager seven days a week.

The clinic building is staffed by a receptionist, and a doctor. A patient care manager and a nutritionist can work remotely or from a clinic office 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, there are a number of locum doctors familiar with the clinic that can be contacted. In addition, staff work closely with other staff based at the other locations.

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, made observations and reviewed additional documents.

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 6 August 2021

This service is rated as Good overall.

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Weightmedics - Edqware Road 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 – Edgware Road 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 had implemented additional infection control measures in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
• The provider had adequate systems for reviewing and investigating when things went wrong and sharing any learning with all staff.
• The provider had effective processes to develop leadership capacity and skills, including planning for the future leadership of the service.

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 dose and frequency information for medicines prescribed.
• Review and improve how consent is obtained to ensure that patients are aware of all treatment risks.
• Review the system for sharing treatment plans with patient’s own GPs to ensure they are sent consistently.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care