Derma Reading

Updated 24 July 2023

Derma Reading is located in Reading, Berkshire. The clinic provides consultations and/or treatment to both children and adults that come under scope of regulation by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). These treatments are given via pre-bookable appointments. Patients attend for an initial consultation, where a treatment plan is discussed and agreed, and then they are booked in for treatment at a later date. Treatments that are regulated by CQC include medical treatments for a range of skin conditions (including eczema and psoriasis) and surgical treatments for skin conditions (such as lumps, bumps, seborrheic keratoses, skin tags, moles, warts, lipoma, and cyst removal).

The service provides treatment for iontophoresis for hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating and a range of pre-operative assessment and post-operative care for the surgical procedures such as mole mapping, photodynamic therapy, patch testing, skin prick testing and mohs micrographic surgery (MMS).

Treatments are provided from:

Derma Reading, Shepherds Hill, Woodley, Reading RG61F.

The service website is: www.dermareading.co.uk

The service is open Monday to Friday with the following opening hours: Monday, Wednesday Thursday, and Friday from 8am to 5pm and Tuesday from 8am to 8pm. This service offers an out of hours service for its patients and when necessary, could stay open longer to accommodate patients’ needs.

Patients who need medical assistance out of corporate operating hours can access out of hours support via the service and this is detailed in patient literature supplied by the service.

Regulated activities (treatments regulated by CQC) are provided by a team of 9 dermatology consultants and 2 plastic surgeons. They are supported by a nursing team which includes a senior dermatology nurse, 2 dermatology nurses and a health care assistant. The practice also employs a practice manager and 3 administration staff who oversee appointments and administration for all patients. The finance director was responsible for finance, marketing, and IT at the service and co-owned the clinic with the clinical director.

How we inspected this 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 24 July 2023

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 Derma Reading on 21 June 2023. This was the first CQC inspection of this location under the current CQC inspection methodology.

The service was founded in 2020 by a Consultant Dermatologist who is also the clinical director and CQC 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.

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. Dema Reading provides some surgical and non-surgical treatments which are not within CQC scope of registration, for example anti-wrinkle injections, dermal filler, non-surgical facelift, and acne scar removal. Therefore, we did not inspect or report on these services.

Derma Reading is registered with the CQC to provide the following regulated activities:

• Diagnostic and screening procedures

• Surgical procedures

• Treatment of disease, disorder or injury

Our key findings were:

• The service provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• Staff had the relevant skills, knowledge, and experience to deliver the care and treatment offered by the service.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• The service encouraged and valued feedback from patients. We saw that patient feedback was generally positive.
• The service organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs.
• The way the service was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Continue to review and monitor the staff vaccination programme to ensure all staff are up to date with the appropriate vaccination in line with national guidance.
• Continue to review and embed the process to confirm patient identity when they first register with the service.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Health Care