Rejuvenate Aesthetics Clinic Ltd

This service is rated as Requires improvement overall.

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Requires improvement

Are services effective? – Requires improvement

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Requires improvement

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Rejuvenate Aesthetics Clinic Ltd on 18 August 2023. This was the first inspection of the service which was registered in May 2022. We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. The inspection was planned to check whether the service was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act.

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. Rejuvenate Aesthetics Clinic Ltd provides a range of non-surgical cosmetic interventions, for example fillers, dermaplaning, microneedling and skin booster injections which are not within CQC scope of registration. Therefore, we did not inspect or report on these services.

The nurse director of the service 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.

Although we were unable to speak with patients during our visit, we viewed written feedback provided to the service by patients following their appointment.

Our key findings were:

• Best practice guidance was not always followed in providing treatment to patients. For example, weight management prescribing requirements.
• There was a lack of auditing of clinical and prescribing practices.
• There was a lack of performance review, clinical supervision and peer review for clinical staff.
• Clinical records were not always sufficiently detailed.
• Monitoring of cold chain processes were not sufficient to ensure the safe storage of medicines requiring refrigeration.
• There were processes in place for managing medical emergencies but these did not include details of how to manage a medical emergency when only one member of staff was working.
• Emergency medicines were in place, however these had been obtained for a named patient rather than for business use.
• Risk assessments were carried out but these were not always sufficiently detailed to address all risks.
• Fire safety processes were in place. Staff had participated in fire drills and had received fire safety training.
• There were general health and safety risk assessments in place.
• There was a lack of governance and effective monitoring processes to provide assurance to leaders that systems were operating as intended.
• Information was not always shared appropriately with other services.
• The premises were well-maintained, with all the necessary health and safety measures in place.
• Arrangements for chaperoning were not effectively managed. It was not clear to patients when a chaperone was available.
• The service had systems and processes in place to ensure that patients were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in decisions about their care and treatment.
• Patients were routinely asked to provide feedback on the service they had received. Feedback from patients using the service was very positive.

The areas where the provider must make improvements as they are in breach of regulations are:

• Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients.
• Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.

We took enforcement action and issued a warning notice against the provider in relation to Regulation 12(1) Safe care and treatment.

We issued a requirement notice against the provider in relation to Regulation 17(1) Good governance.

(Please see the specific details on action required at the end of this report).

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Make it clear to patients when chaperones are available.
• Improve the approach to prescribing off-label medicines against clinical needs of an individual patient where there is no suitable licensed medicine available.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Health Care