Caroline Street Aesthetics

This service is rated as Good overall.

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 Caroline Street Aesthetics as part of our inspection programme. The service was registered with CQC in August 2021 and has not been previously inspected.

Caroline Street Aesthetics is a location and the registered provider is CS Aesthetics Ltd. The service offers a range of non-surgical medical aesthetic treatments for men and women over the age of 18 years.

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 Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. Caroline Street Aesthetics provides a range of non-surgical cosmetic interventions, for example botulinum toxin injections and dermal fillers which are not within CQC scope of registration therefore, we did not inspect or report on these services. The service offers two regulated activities:

• Treatment of disease disorder and injury: because they see patients and prescribe medication to treat, hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating), and skin disease.
• Surgical procedures: because they will provide Polydioxanone (PDO) thread lifts.

The registered provider (who is the registered owner of the business) 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.

As part of the inspection we looked at patient feedback via an electronic survey system which was available to patients who had been treated at the service. We also looked at thank you cards patients had sentto the service. Feedback was positive and complementary about the staff and the services provided.

Our key findings were:

• The service had clearly embedded systems, processes and operating procedures to keep patients safe, to manage a safe environment, incidents and significant events and to safeguard patients from abuse. Some recruitment procedures needed further development to ensure all checks are completed.

• The service monitored the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence based guidelines and that staff had the skills, knowledge and training to provide an effective service.

• Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.

• The service organised and delivered services to meet patient’s needs. Patients were well informed about aspects of the service provided. The service took comments, complaints and concerns seriously and responded to them appropriately.

• The manager had the capacity and skills to deliver high-quality sustainable care. There were clear responsibilities, roles and systems of accountability to support good governance and management. There were effective processes for managing risks, issues and performance. There were systems and processes for learning, continuous improvement and innovation.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• The provider should ensure all recruitment files contain all the necessary completed pre-employment references.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

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