Courthouse Clinics (Sk:n) Brentwood

Updated 21 March 2023

Courthouse Clinics (Sk:n) Brentwood provides independent doctor-led dermatology services, offering skin treatments such as prescribing for acne and other skin conditions, and minor surgical procedures, including the excision of moles and other skin lesions. The clinic also provides hyperhidrosis treatment and other non-regulated aesthetic treatments, for example, cosmetic dermal fillers, skin peels, anti-ageing injectables and laser treatments, which are not within CQC scope of registration.

The Registered Provider is Lasercare Clinics (Harrogate) Limited, who provide services from more than 50 locations across England.

The clinic has been registered with the CQC since December 2021. Services are provided from New Road, Brentwood, CM14 4GD.

The clinic opening times are:

• Monday: 12pm-8pm
• Tuesday: 10.30am-8pm
• Wednesday: 12pm-8pm
• Thursday: 11.30am-8pm
• Friday: 9am-6pm
• Saturday: 9am-6pm

The staff team is comprised of a clinic manager, a clinic manager designate, a medical director who is the lead Cosmetic Doctor and an aesthetic nurse practitioner. They are supported by practitioners who provide only non-regulated aesthetic treatments. Although the service previously employed Dermatologists to provide consultations and treatments at the clinic, at the time of the inspection there was no dermatologist that worked at the clinic and we were informed the company is recruiting for this position. Subsequently, no minor surgeries are being carried out at this location.

The clinic is spread over two floors. The ground floor consists of toilets, a spacious waiting area, a small staff room, a staff kitchen area, two doctors rooms and a minor operations room (this room was not in use as there were currently no minor operations being carried out by the service). The first floor has two treatment rooms.

The clinic has good transport links with regular buses and local tube stations. There is no on-site parking. The premises is modern, clean and in good condition.

How we inspected this service

We carried out this inspection on 27 February 2023. Before visiting the location, we looked at a range of information that we hold about the service. Before and during our visit, we interviewed staff, reviewed documents and clinical records, and made observations relating to the service and the location it was delivered from. We were shown examples of patient feedback which the provider monitored on an ongoing basis. We did not speak to patients on the day of the site visit.

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 March 2023

This service is rated as Good overall. (No previous inspection)

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 Courthouse Clinics (Sk:n) Brentwood on 27 February 2023 under section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008. The 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 under our current methodology.

The provider specialises in dermatology and aesthetic treatments. The service offers 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 Brentwood provides a range of non-surgical aesthetic interventions, for example cosmetic Botox injections, dermal fillers and laser hair removal which are not within CQC scope of registration. Therefore, we did not inspect or report on these services.

The clinic manager 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:

• The service had safety systems and processes in place to keep people safe.
• The provider had comprehensive governance processes to provide assurance to leaders that systems were safe and operating as intended.
• Leaders and staff had the skills and experience to fulfil their roles in a safe and effective way.
• Risk management was deeply embedded in the culture of the service, we saw evidence the provider made improvements when risks were identified.
• There were appropriate arrangements in place to manage medical emergencies.
• There were health and safety risk assessments and processes in place.
• Staff treated patients with compassion, respect and kindness and involved them in decisions about their care.
• The service proactively sought feedback from patients and used this information to improve.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• To continue to ensure all action points from previous meetings are documented as completed or followed up at future meetings.
• To continue to ensure all action plans following risk assessments are signed with a date of completion or date to be reviewed.
• To continue to review staff immunisation and ensure all records are up to date.
• To ensure the website is updated to accurately reflect the clinic opening times and the treatments that are offered at the clinic.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

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