The Care Quality Commission
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  • Independent doctor

Elements Medical

Overall: Inadequate read more about inspection ratings

81 Thorne Road, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, DN1 2ES (01302) 343432

Provided and run by:
Elements Medical Ltd

Important: We are carrying out a review of quality at Elements Medical. We will publish a report when our review is complete. Find out more about our inspection reports.

All Inspections

During an assessment under our new approach

Date of Assessment: 9 January 2025 to 9 January 2025. Elements Medical Limited is an independent clinic located in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. The service offers CQC-regulated medical services and weight management services online (which was currently in the process of being sold to another provider at the time of this inspection), as well as some non-regulated aesthetic services. Other procedures offered by the service that are CQC regulated include treatments for skin conditions including acne, treatments for excessive sweating and headaches, vitamin injections, weight management.

On 10 October 2024 we suspended the provider from carrying out these CQC regulated activities due to concerns about the safety of patients. We carried out this 9 January unannounced assessment of 4 quality statements to assess compliance with the issues from the urgent suspension of regulated activity, we had imposed. The service was not in breach of any further legal regulations at this inspection.

We issued requirement notices at our October 2024 inspection for other breaches of regulations relating to dignity and respect, staffing, fit and proper persons employed, need for consent. The provider will supply us with an action plan relating to these, at a mutually agreed date.

This inspection was to follow up on the concerns of safety and governance which we identified during the October 2024 inspection that led to the CQC suspending the provider from delivering regulated activities. Despite finding some improvements in the areas of safe and well led, and our decision not to renew or extend the suspension order, the service will remain rated as Inadequate and in Special Measures until we are able to carry out a further, more comprehensive inspection, of the service.

During an assessment under our new approach

Date of assessment: 8 October 2024. Last inspected: July 2021. Elements Medical Ltd is an independent clinic located in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. The service offers CQC-regulated medical services and weight management services online, under the name The Virtual Slimming Clinic, as well as some non-regulated aesthetic services. Other procedures offered by the service that are CQC regulated include treatments for skin conditions including acne, treatments for excessive sweating and headaches, vitamin injections, weight management, and preoperative and postoperative care for cosmetic and bariatric surgery. We carried out an unannounced assessment of 19 quality statements due to receiving information of concern. We found 7 breaches of regulations relating to dignity and respect, safe care and treatment, safeguarding service users from abuse and improper treatment, staffing, fit and proper persons employed, need for consent and good governance. We have rated this service as inadequate and have placed it into special measures. The purpose of special measures is to ensure services providing inadequate care make significant improvements. Special measures provide a framework within which we use our enforcement powers in response to inadequate care and provide a timeframe within which providers must improve the quality of the care provided.

7 July 2021

During a routine inspection

This service is rated as Choose a rating overall. Good

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

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 Elements Medical as part of our inspection programme to rate the service. Elements Medical is a private clinic which provides health screening, medical weight management, and dermatology.

This service is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, in respect of some, but not all, of the services it provides. There are some general exemptions from regulation by CQC which relate to particular types of service and these are set out in Schedule 2 of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

Elements Medical offered a COVID-19 testing service, this too fell outside the scope of our inspection.

The service had a 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.

On the day of inspection we were unable to speak directly to patients in order to gather their views of the service. However, we were shown feedback collected by the service. All were positive about the care and treatment received.

Our key findings were:

  • People were provided with information and advice to support weight loss.
  • The service had a clear vision and strategy and engaged well with staff.
  • The premises was appropriate for the service delivered.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

  • Implement a clinical audit system to review quality of care and patient outcomes.
  • Develop effective systems and processes to monitor risk and performance.
  • Make a clear record of the rationale when prescribing an off-label medicine, when a licensed medicines is available.
  • Improve medicines storage so they are safe and secure.

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

25 June 2013

During a routine inspection

Before people received any care or treatment they were asked for their consent and the provider acted in accordance with their wishes. We spoke with four people who had used the service. They told us they were given enough information and support during their pre treatment consultations to help them make an informed decision about the treatment.

Records reflected that people experienced care, treatment and support that met their needs and protected their rights. The people we spoke with said they were very happy with the service they had been provided with.

We saw that people were cared for in a clean, hygienic environment. People were protected from the risk of infection because appropriate guidance had been followed.

We found that there were effective recruitment and selection processes in place and appropriate checks were undertaken before staff began work.

There was an effective complaints system available. Comments and complaints people made were responded to appropriately.

12 April 2012

During a routine inspection

We were unable to speak with people who had received treatments that related to regulated activity as they were not available at the time of the inspection. We did speak with two people who had previously received intense pulsed light treatments. Both gave positive feedback about the service. They said they had an initial consultation, all aspects of the treatment had been explained and they had been provided with information leaflets about pulsed light treatments. They said that they felt safe being treated by the service and staff were very mindful of people's dignity and privacy. Both people we spoke with gave positive feedback about the staff. They said that a lot of emphasis was placed on providing a high quality service.