Sk:n - Wolverhampton Compton Road

This service is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspection September 2013 – Good)

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 – Wolverhampton Compton Road as part of our inspection programme.

Sk:n – Wolverhampton Compton Road offers specialised and tailored skin treatments. This includes laser hair and tattoo removal, skin peels and minor surgical skin procedures.

This service is registered with the Care Quality Commission (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 Wolverhampton Compton Road provides a range of non-surgical cosmetic interventions, for example acne and acne scarring treatment, rejuvenating skin treatments which are not within CQC scope of registration. Therefore, we did not inspect or report on these services.

The Centre Manager is the registered manager for this location. 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 were systems to assess, monitor and manage risks to patient safety.
• Services provided were organised and delivered to meet patients identified and assessed needs.
• The provider had systems and processes in place to minimise the risk of infection.
• Staff files were not all organised so that relevant documents were readily and easily accessible in one place.
• Some prescribed medicines did not demonstrate that national guidance was consistently followed before prescribing the medicine.
• There were some gaps in the documentation of patients records to confirm that all patients had the required tests carried out before confirming the treatment to be provided. prescribing the medicine.
• Appropriate medicines and equipment were available to manage medical emergencies.
• Staff had received training and guidance to deal with medical and other health and safety emergencies.
• The provider maintained a central register of any complaints and incidents that had occurred across all its locations. This supported sharing learning and improvements across the organisation.
• We saw examples where information was shared with a patients NHS GP to support the continuity of safe care and treatment.
• The clinicians and practitioners took the opportunity to provide skin health advice to patients at consultations.
• Staff treated patients with respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• Governance arrangements supported the provider to have management oversight of systems to support ongoing learning, monitoring and improvement.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Continue with the improvements to implement formal quality audit systems for the ongoing and regular review of clinical records.
• Include systems to check that clinicians are following relevant guidance when prescribing medicines to support patient safety.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

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