Archived: Medsthetics Ltd

Updated 23 September 2019

Medsthetics Ltd, formally known as The Ear Care Centre is a specialist ear microsuction service based in the town of Caterham. Services are provided to the local community and further afield. The provider also runs an aesthetic clinic from the same premises.

Services are provided rom the following address:

11-13 High Street

Caterham

Surrey

CR3 5UE

The core times are Monday to Friday 9am - 6pm and Saturday 10am - 1pm (pre-booked appointment only).

Further information on the service, its opening times and the full range of services provided can be found at the provider’s website www.theearcarecentre.co.uk

As part of this inspection we interviewed staff, the registered providers, observed the environment and carried out a review of comment cards, feedback from patients, documents and policies.

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 23 September 2019

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the service was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Carol-Ann Crispin-Chavez 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.

This service is registered with CQC under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 in respect of some, but not all, of the services it provides. There are some exemptions from regulation by CQC which relate to particular types of regulated activities and services and these are set out in and of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. Medsthetics Ltd provides a range of non-surgical cosmetic interventions under the name Medsthetics, for example, dermal fillers which are not within CQC scope of registration. Therefore, we did not inspect or report on these services.

32 patients provided feedback about the service. All the feedback we received was positive about the care and treatment received. Patients found the service to be professional, caring, supportive and maintained the privacy and dignity of patients at all times.

Our key findings were :

• Training opportunities were provided to staff, however not all training required had been completed or was up to date.
• The service had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the service had systems to learn from them and improved their processes.
• The service routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.
• Patients were provided with detailed treatment plans to support their care and treatment.
• Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• Recruitment practices ensured information required by regulation was in place prior to the appointment of staff.

The areas where the provider must make improvements as they are in breach of regulations are:

• Ensure persons employed in the provision of the regulated activity receive the appropriate support, training, professional development, supervision and appraisal necessary to enable them to carry out the duties.

There were areas where the provider could make improvements and should:

• Keep the use of chemicals hazardous to health under review to ensure information is available to prevent harm to staff, patients and visitors.
• Review and improve the recording and receipt of safety events and medicine alerts to demonstrate that these had been assessed for potential action.
• Review and improve staff/ infection control records to include immunisation status of all members of staff.

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