RK Private Clinics Ltd Also known as Kings Private Clinics Maidstone

Updated 27 April 2023

RK private Clinics Ltd is a slimming clinic located in Maidstone town centre. It is one of two registered locations run by this independent provider. This is the first inspection of this location under this newly registered provider. Information in relation to the predecessor organisation was reviewed in preparation for this inspection.

The clinic is located in Maidstone town centre. It occupies an area on the ground floor of a shared building. Whilst there is no step free access, there is ramp access into the building from the office next door. Patients can also access toilet facilities on the first floor. The clinic is open on Wednesdays from 11am to 2pm for face to face consultations. Patients can access prescribed medicines as well as advice on diet and lifestyle. The clinic is staffed by a clinic manager and a doctor.

How we inspected this service

Prior to the inspection we reviewed information about the service, including the previous inspection report for the predecessor organisation and information given to us by the provider. We spoke to clinical and non-clinical staff and reviewed a range of 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 27 April 2023

This service is rated as Good overall.

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 RK Private Clinics Ltd on the 23 November 2022 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.

RK Private Clinics Ltd provides weight loss services, including prescribing medicines and dietary advice to support weight reduction. The clinic manager 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:

• Staff sought consent before people were provided with any treatment at the service.
• We saw evidence that patients were given appropriate treatment breaks

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Keep a clear record of the information that has been discussed with patients during their consultations.
• Only supply unlicensed medicines against valid special clinical needs of an individual patient where there is no suitable licensed medicine available.
• To take account of revised professional guidance around prescribing and sharing of information when prescribing some medicines.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Hospitals and Interim Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services