Medizen Limited

Updated 30 September 2019

The registered provider of the clinic is Medizen Limited. Medizen Limited is situated on the first and second floor of Astor House on Lichfield Road, Four Oaks, Sutton Coldfield B74 2UG.

Medizen Limited is a clinic that provides non-surgical aesthetic treatments that are minimally invasive to help people with general complexion problems, excessive sweating or hair problems and migraines. The clinic has seven treatment rooms including the medical practitioners consulting room, there is also a separate area on the second floor used for initial assessments and discussions.

The clinic employs 15 staff including a clinic manager, deputy clinic manager, receptionists and aestheticians (aestheticians provide a variety of services, procedures, products, and consultations to help improve and maintain the appearance and health of the client's or patient's skin). Two medical practitioners and nurse work at the clinic under practising privileges. Practising privileges is a well-established process within the independent hospital healthcare sector where a medical practitioner is granted permission to work in a private hospital or clinic in independent private practice.

The clinic is open:

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 9am to 8pm

Thursday 9am to 6pm

Friday 9am to 4pm.

Two Saturdays per month between 10am to 4.30pm

During out of hours the automated phone answering system passes messages to staff. Clinical emergencies are a priority and service users are contacted by the doctor who provides advice or arrangements are made for service users to be seen at the clinic the following day if non-urgent.

The lead medical practitioner works at the clinic on a Wednesday and Friday. The other medical practitioner working under practice privileges works every other Wednesday afternoon providing treatments. The nurse works on a Tuesday and Thursday. The clinic provides a 24-hour answering service.

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 treatment of migraines and excessive sweating.

The aesthetic cosmetic treatments that are also provided are exempt by law from CQC regulation. Therefore, we were only able to inspect the treatment for migraines and excessive sweating but not the aesthetic cosmetic services.

Between January 2018 and August 2019, the clinic had treated nine patients for migraines and eight patients for excessive sweating. Patients attended the clinic at varying intervals depending on how well they responded to treatment.

How we inspected this service

Before visiting, we reviewed a range of information we held about the clinic. We also reviewed any information that the provider returned to us, the providers’ website and any links to social media.

During our visit we:

• Spoke with a range of staff including the clinic manager, deputy manager, two aestheticians and reception staff
• Reviewed comment cards where patients shared their views and experiences of the service.
• Looked at information the clinic used to deliver care and treatment plans.

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 30 September 2019

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Medizen Limited to follow up on breaches of regulations.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspected the service in February 2018 and asked the provider to make improvements regarding good governance. For example, the clinic had not carried out some risk assessments such as for health and safety and Legionella. The clinic had not regularly reviewed and updated existing policies and protocols.

We checked these areas as part of our April 2019 comprehensive follow up inspection and found that some improvements had been made. However, we identified other areas where improvements were required. As a result of our findings CQC issued requirement notices for breaches of legal requirements’ in relation to safe care and treatment and good governance. We asked the provider to make improvements regarding the delivery of safe and well-led services. The provider sent CQC a report stating what actions they were going to take to meet legal requirements. We checked these areas as part of this comprehensive inspection and found the issues had been resolved.

Medizen Limited is a clinic that provides non-surgical aesthetics that are minimally invasive to help people with general complexion problems, excessive sweating, hair problems and migraines.

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 treatment of migraines and excessive sweating.

At Medizen Limited the aesthetic cosmetic treatments that are also provided are exempt by law from CQC regulation. Therefore, we were only able to inspect the treatment for migraines and excessive sweating but not the aesthetic cosmetic services.

One of the directors of Medizen Limited 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 received 28 completed care Quality Commission (CQC) comment cards which were mainly positive. For example, patients felt staff were professional, knowledgeable; patients felt listened to and treatment received was of a high standard. Patients felt the environment was always clean and hygienic.

Our key findings were :

• The service had effective systems in place for recording, reporting and managing significant events and incidents.
• Staff demonstrated clear understanding and awareness of their responsibilities in relation to keeping patients safe and safeguarded from abuse.
• Staff were supported in their learning and development needs and had access to training as well as regular appraisals. Staff, we spoke with felt confident in raising concerns and suggesting improvement.
• There was a complaints process in place and available on the service website. Documents we viewed showed complaints were managed in a timely manner.
• The service organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs. It took account of patient needs and preferences.
• There were clear and effective processes for managing clinical and environmental risks as well as preventing, detecting and controlling the spread of infections.
• There were clear responsibilities, roles and systems of accountability to support good governance and management.

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