Sk:n - Cheltenham Montpellier Walk

Updated 20 December 2021

Sk:n Cheltenham Montpellier Walk is operated by Lasercare Clinics (Harrogate) Limited, 34 Harborne Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 3AA. The provider has over 50 clinics registered with the CQC in England. A link to the clinic’s website is below:

https://www.sknclinics.co.uk/clinics/the-midlands/cheltenham-montpellier-walk

The service was first registered with CQC in 2010 and is registered to treat patients aged 18 and over. The services offered include those that fall under registration, such as mole removal, skin cancer screening and medical acne treatment. Other procedures, that are out of the scope of regulation include laser hair removal, anti-ageing injectables, dermal fillers, tattoo removal, wart and verruca removal.

The clinic is located in the centre of Cheltenham at 13 Montpellier Walk, Cheltenham, GL50 1SD. There is limited free parking outside of the location. The clinic is open seven days a week; Monday and Friday 10 am to 6 pm, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 12 pm to 8 pm, Saturday 9 am to 6 pm and Sunday 10 am to 5 pm. The provider's call centre operates seven days a week.

How we inspected this service

Before we inspected, we asked the provider to send us some information, which was reviewed before the inspection day. We also reviewed information held by CQC on our internal systems.

During the inspection we spoke with staff present including the registered manager and clinical lead, we have sent staff questionnaires to other staff. We made observations of the facilities and service provision and reviewed documents, records and information held 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 20 December 2021

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 Sk:n Cheltenham Montpellier Walk on 9 November 2021 as a part of our inspection programme.

Sk:n Cheltenham Montpellier Walk is registered under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 to provide the following regulated activities:

• Diagnostic and screening procedures,
• Surgical procedures,
• Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

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 Cheltenham Montpellier Walk provides a range of non-surgical cosmetic interventions, which are not within the CQC scope of registration. We only inspected and reported on the services which are within the scope of registration with the CQC.

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.

Due to the current pandemic, we were unable to obtain comments from patients via our normal process of asking the provider to place comment cards within the service location. However, we saw from internal surveys and reviews on social media that patients were positive about the service. We did not speak with patients on the day.

Our key findings were:

• The service had safety systems and processes in place to keep people safe. There were systems to identify, monitor and manage risks and learn from incidents.
• The fire risk assessment was out of date at the time of the inspection, however, after the visit, the service provided evidence of an up to date risk assessment being completed.
• The service provided effective treatments and ensured care and treatment were delivered in line with evidence-based guidelines.
• The staff treated patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• The service had a clear strategy and vision. The governance arrangements promoted good quality care.

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