Sk:n - Birmingham Harborne Road

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 - Birmingham Harborne Road on 13 July 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 January 2014 when it was not rated but was found to be meeting all regulations that were inspected at the time.

Sk:n - Birmingham Harborne Road 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 clinic provides doctor and nurse-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 general 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 - Birmingham Harborne Road provides a wide range of non-surgical aesthetic interventions, for example, cosmetic Botox injections and laser har removal which are not within CQC scope of registration. Therefore, we did not inspect or report on these services.

At the time of the inspection, the service did not have a registered manager. However, the provider had submitted an application to us, which was being processed by us. 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 provider had implemented appropriate systems to keep patients and staff safe.
• There were systems to identify, monitor and manage risks.
• Staff had received mandatory training.
• The provider carried out appropriate recruitment checks.
• Arrangements for chaperoning were effectively managed.
• There were appropriate arrangements to manage medical emergencies and the clinic had suitable emergency medicines and equipment in place.
• There were effective systems and processes to manage infection, prevention and control.
• There was evidence of clinical and non-clinical audits.
• Patient feedback we viewed was positive about the overall service.
• The way the service was led and managed, promoted the delivery of a high quality service.

While we did not find any breaches in regulation, the areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Improve their audit program to include audits of clinician’s prescribing and referral decisions.
• Improve their process to confirm that patients are aged 18 or over.
• Improve their process for writing back to GPs when a referral is needed for further investigation.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

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