Health Counts

Updated 21 May 2019

• The provider of this service is Ingoldsby Limited.

• Health Counts are located at 14 Arcade Street, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP1 1EJ, which is the only location where they provide regulated activity.
• The website address is: www.healthcounts-ipswich.co.uk
• Health Counts is a medical skin laser and aesthetic clinic. They offer laser hair, thread vein and tattoo removal, dermal fillers and Botulinum Toxin (Botox) treatments for migraine pain, Bell’s Palsy and excessive sweating. The service provides a private service to children and adults. Additionally, the service carries out treatments via referral from the clients own GP or clinical NHS consultant. They provide a number of aesthetic cosmetic treatments, which we did not inspect as they are out of the scope of CQC regulation.
• Health Counts opened in 1988 and reports to be the longest established laser and aesthetic clinic in East Anglia. The service has three directors, a medical director, a managing director and a financial director. There is a clinic manager, assistant manager, nurse prescriber and three Laser therapists. The service consists of a main waiting room, a toilet which is suitable for disabled access, a reception, two laser rooms, a consulting room and an aesthetic waiting room. Appointments are offered on a mainly pre-bookable basis. There is no on-site car parking but there is a pay and display car park close by.
• Hours of opening are: Monday phones are manned between 10am and 5pm, Tuesday 10am to 8pm, Wednesday 12pm to 8pm, Thursday 10am to 8pm, Friday and Saturday 10am to 4pm and closed on Sundays.

Before visiting, we reviewed a range of information we hold about the service and asked them to send us some pre- inspection information which we reviewed.

During our visit we:

• Spoke with a range of staff from the service including the clinic manager, the finance director and two laser therapists.
• Reviewed a sample of treatment records.
• Reviewed comment cards where clients had shared their views and experiences of the service.
• Looked at information the service used to deliver care and treatment plans.

To get to the heart of clients’ 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.

Our inspection team was led by a CQC lead inspector. The team included a GP specialist advisor.

Updated 21 May 2019

This service is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspection July 2018- rated as not meeting the requirements for safe, effective and well-led).

At the last inspection in July 2018, we found there were breaches of regulations 12 (safe care and treatment) and 17 (good governance). CQC inspected the service in July 2018 and asked the provider to make improvements regarding safe care and treatment and good governance. We checked these areas as part of this comprehensive inspection and found the issues identified had been resolved.

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 Health Counts on 30 April 2019. This inspection was to follow up on the breaches of regulation identified at the last inspection, and to rate the service.

Health Counts is a medical skin laser and aesthetic clinic. They offer laser hair, thread vein and tattoo removal, dermal fillers, acne treatments and Botulinum Toxin (Botox) treatments for cosmetic purposes and for migraine pain, Bell’s Palsy (temporary facial paralysis) and Hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating).

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 service and these are set out in Schedule 2 of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. This service is registered with CQC under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 in respect of the provision of advice or treatment of clients suffering with migraines or Bell’s Palsy with the use of Botulinum Toxin and for the treatment of Hyperhidrosis. The treatment of clients with Botulinum Toxin was undertaken solely by a registered nurse prescriber, which included the prescribing of medicines. At Health Counts the aesthetic cosmetic treatments, including the use of laser treatments, that are also provided, are exempt by law from CQC regulation and were therefore not inspected.

The service is registered with the CQC under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 to provide the following regulated activities:

• Surgical procedures
• Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

The Managing Director 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.

As part of our inspection we asked for CQC comment cards to be completed by clients prior to our inspection visit. We received 37 comment cards, 36 of which were wholly positive about the service and one was negative. The cards reflected the kind and caring nature of staff, how informative staff were, the pleasant environment and the positive effects of the treatment received. Other forms of feedback, including patient surveys and social media feedback was consistently positive.

Our key findings were:

• We saw there was leadership within the service and the team worked together in a cohesive, supported, and open manner.
• There was an effective system in place for reporting and recording significant events.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the Duty of Candour.
• Risks to patients were assessed and monitored.
• The service held a range of policies and procedures which were in place to govern activity; staff were able to access these policies easily and staff had signed each one.
• To ensure and monitor the quality of the service and their record keeping, the service undertook regular audits of patient records.
• Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence-based guidance.
• Staff had the skills, knowledge, and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
• All patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity, and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• The service had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• The service proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on. Regular surveys were undertaken, and reports collated from the findings and action taken where required.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Embed the system for the monitoring of fridge temperatures to ensure this is consistently managed.

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