Sk:n - Brighton Jubilee Street

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 of Sk:n - Brighton Jubilee Street on 23 March 2022 under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008. 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. This was the first rated inspection of the service. The service was previously inspected in November 2013, when it was not rated but was found to be meeting all regulations.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has continued to regulate and respond to risk. However, taking into account the circumstances arising as a result 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:

• Speaking with staff in person and on the telephone.
• Requesting documentary evidence from the provider.
• A site visit.

We carried out an announced site visit to the service on 23 March 2022. Prior to our visit we requested documentary evidence electronically from the provider. We spoke to staff in person on 23 March 2022 and on the telephone on 22 and 24 March 2022.

The provider specialises in a combination of medical aesthetic treatments and anti-ageing medicine, as well as offering rejuvenation and dermatology treatments. This service provides independent doctor-led dermatology services, offering a mix of regulated skin treatments and minor surgical procedures, as well as other non-regulated aesthetic treatments.

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. Sk:n - Brighton Jubilee Street provides a wide range of non-surgical aesthetic interventions, for example, cosmetic Botox injections, dermal fillers and thread vein treatments, which are not within CQC scope of registration. Therefore, we did not inspect or report on these services.

Sk:n - Brighton Jubilee Street is registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide the following regulated activities: Treatment of disease, disorder or injury, Diagnostic and screening procedures and Surgical procedures.

There was no registered manager for the service at the time of our inspection. 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. The provider told us that the clinic manager, who had been in post for a period of six months, was in the process of submitting their application to CQC to become the registered manager.

Our key findings were:

• Recruitment checks had been carried out in accordance with regulations, including for staff employed on a sessional basis.
• Staff had received training in key areas. There was a clear plan of training for all staff employed by the service.
• There were safeguarding systems and processes to keep people safe.
• Arrangements for chaperoning were effectively managed.
• There were appropriate arrangements to manage medical emergencies and suitable emergency medicines and equipment in place.
• There were effective systems and processes to assess the risk of, and prevent, detect and control the spread of infection.
• There were comprehensive health and safety risk assessments and processes in place.
• There was evidence of clinical audit and auditing of clinical record keeping processes.
• Clinical record keeping lacked detail in some areas.
• Best practice guidance was followed in providing treatment to patients. For example, excised lesions were routinely sent for histological review.
• There were clear and effective governance and monitoring processes to provide assurance to leaders that systems were operating as intended. However, risks associated with the safe storage of medicines had not been promptly identified or addressed.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Review processes to promote prompt identification and reporting of risks by local managers.
• Review clinical record keeping monitoring processes to promote consistency and quality.
• Continue to develop a revised approach to the monitoring of staff immunisations in line with current guidance.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care