ABL Health Limited

Updated 14 October 2021

The service is run by a private organisation named ABL Health Limited. The provider registered with CQC in 2014 to provide the regulated activity of treatment of disease disorder or injury.

The service address is:

71 Redgate Way

Farnworth

Bolton

Lancashire

BL4 0JL

The website address is www.ablhealth.co.uk

Opening times:

Monday to Friday: 8.30am to 9.00pm with some services carried out at weekends.

ABL Health is provided by ABL Health Limited. The service provides a range of activities including clinical care, adult and family weight management, physical activity, integrated wellness, smoking cessation and children’s services including intensive positive behavioural support.

ABL Health Limited is registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide an independent weight management and specialist nutrition service. This inspection focuses on this part of the service only.

The head office is based in Bolton, Greater Manchester. The provider carries out the regulated activity at different community venues across Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Nottinghamshire, the Northeast and Lincolnshire.

The clinics are run by a variety of support professionals which include doctors, lifestyle coaches/advisors, psychologists, dietitians and nutritionists, and community engagement staff. The clinical team are supported by a registered manager, governance lead, business manager, information technology staff and administration staff.

Choose to Change (C2C) is a weight management behavioural change programme that adopts additional psychotherapy methods to support the weight loss programmes and encourage lifelong change. It helps people to break down barriers to sustained weight loss, become more active and make positive food choices. The course is part of the patient’s ongoing bariatric treatment. (Bariatrics is the branch of medicine that deals with the causes, prevention, and treatment of obesity).

The Medical Director is the acting 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.

How we inspected this service

Throughout the pandemic CQC has continued to regulate and respond to risk. However, considering the circumstances arising because of the pandemic, and in order to reduce risk, we have conducted our inspections differently.

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site. This was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements.

This included:

• Requesting evidence from the provider before the inspection.
• Shorter site visits.
• Remote interviews with staff via telephone or video call.
• Reviewing a sample of audits.
• Asking the provider to share details with people using the service to give feedback on care via the CQC website.

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 14 October 2021

This service is rated as good overall. (The previous inspection in November 2018 was not given a rating because that was not a part of the CQC procedures at the time).

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 ABL Health Limited as part of our inspection programme and to give the service a rating.

During this inspection on 20 July 2021 our key findings were:

• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and systems in place to report and record incidents.
• There were systems and processes in place to safeguard patients from abuse and staff were able to access relevant training to keep patients safe.
• There were systems to assess, monitor and manage risks to patient safety.
• The service was actively involved in quality improvement activity.
• Staff worked together, and worked well with other organisations, to deliver effective care and treatment.
• Staff had the skills, knowledge and experience to carry out their roles.
• Staff treated patients with kindness, respect and compassion.
• Staff helped patients to be involved in decisions about care and treatment.
• The service organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs.
• Patients could access care and treatment from the service within an appropriate timescale for their needs.
• Leaders had the capacity and skills to deliver high-quality, sustainable care.
• The service had a clear vision and credible strategy to deliver high quality care and promote good outcomes for patients.
• The service had a culture of high-quality sustainable care.
• There were clear responsibilities, roles and systems of accountability to support good governance and management.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Staff should be clear on the protocol about how to deal with medical emergencies when providing a virtual session.

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