25 October 2023
During a routine inspection
This service is rated as Requires improvement overall.
The key questions are rated as:
Are services safe? – Requires improvement
Are services effective? – Requires improvement
Are services caring? – Good
Are services responsive? – Good
Are services well-led? – Requires improvement
As part of our inspection programme, we carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of London Aesthetics and Regenerative Centre, which trades as Revitalise London (the service), on 25 October 2023. It was the first inspection of the service which was registered by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) on 4 May 2022.
The service provides a range of procedures relating to dermatology, body, hair and facial treatments. It is registered by the CQC under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 in respect of some, but not all, of the procedures it provides. There are some exemptions from regulation by CQC which relate to particular types of activities and services, which are set out in Schedule 2 of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. The service provides various non-surgical cosmetic interventions which are not within CQC scope of registration. Therefore, we did not inspect nor report on those procedures.
The service did not currently have a registered manager, the previous one having left a few months prior to our inspection. An application process to replace them has commenced. A registered manager is a person who is registered by 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.
No patients were present on the day of our inspection, but we reviewed feedback they had given on a verified review website.
Our key findings were:
- There is limited assurance about safety. We were not shown evidence that all staff had received appropriate training covering their roles and responsibilities and safety aspects of the service, including for example lead roles in relation to safeguarding and infection prevention and control. There were issues relating to emergency drugs and equipment.
- People are at risk of not receiving effective care or treatment. People’s outcomes were not always monitored regularly or robustly. The service did not undertake formal clinical auditing or peer reviews to monitor and improve care and treatment. We were not shown complete training records for all staff members to evidence they had the skills, knowledge and experience to carry out their roles.
- People are supported, treated with dignity and respect and are involved as partners in their care.
- People’s needs are met through the way services are organised and delivered.
- The leadership, governance and culture do not always support the delivery of high-quality person-centred care. The arrangements for governance and performance management do not always operate effectively. There was limited oversight of governance arrangements and performance. Policy documents had not been sufficiently reviewed and amended to be appropriate and specific to the service; some contained discrepancies and errors. We could not establish if all risks were dealt with appropriately or in a timely way.
The areas where the service must make improvements as they are in breach of regulations are:
- It must ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients.
- It must establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.
(Please see the specific details on action required at the end of this report).
Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA
Chief Inspector of Hospitals and Interim Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services