Dermaspa London LTD Also known as Skin+ IQ

Updated 21 December 2023

Dermaspa London LTD is an independent clinic in central London.

Services are provided from: 11 Elystan Street, London, SW3 3NT. We visited this location as part of the inspection on 30 August 2023.

The service provides skin-care related treatments.

The service was open to adults only.

Online services can be accessed from the practice website: www.skinplusiq.co.uk

The clinic is open from 10am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday, and 10am to 4pm on Saturday.

The team consists of two doctors. The director is supported by a clinic manager and 3 skin consultants.

The service is registered with the CQC to provide the regulated activity of surgical procedures.

How we inspected this service

Pre-inspection information was gathered and reviewed before the inspection. We spoke with the clinic manager and two skin consultants (therapists) as both doctors were not available during this inspection. We spoke with the director over the telephone a few days after the inspection. We looked at records related to patient assessments and the provision of care and treatment. We also reviewed documentation related to the management of the service. We spoke to 2 patients and reviewed patient feedback collected by the service.

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 21 December 2023

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

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dermaspa London LTD as part of our inspection programme.

The service offers skin-related treatments and treatment for hyperhidrosis (a common condition in which a person sweats excessively).

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. The Dermaspa London LTD provides a range of non-surgical cosmetic interventions, for example, botox injections and dermal fillers which are not within the CQC scope of registration. Therefore, we did not inspect or report on these services.

The director 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:

• There was a lack of good governance in some areas.
• Recruitment checks were not always carried out in accordance with regulations including Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks.
• On the day of the inspection, the oxygen cylinder gauge was not connected, and it was not ready for use. This was addressed a few days after the inspection.
• The service was unable to provide documentary evidence to demonstrate that doctors had received formal safeguarding children training and basic life support training relevant to their role.
• There was a lack of information recorded in the consultation notes.
• Staff meeting minutes were not formally documented.
• Annual appraisals were carried out regularly.
• There was an infection prevention and control policy and procedures were in place to reduce the risk and spread of infection.
• Patients were able to access care and treatment in a timely manner.
• Patients were asked for feedback following each appointment. This feedback was logged, analysed and shared with staff.
• We received positive feedback from the 2 patients we spoke with during the inspection.
• The service had systems to manage and learn from complaints.

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

• Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients.
• 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).

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Review and improve the method for checking patients’ identity.
• Carry out a documented risk assessment to assess if it is required to keep other emergency medicines in stock.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Health Care