St Michaels's Clinic

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at St Michael’s Clinic on 4 August 2022 following the change of ownership and registered provider.

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

The location was inspected under the previous registered provider on 16 December 2019 and rated good overall and across all five key questions.

St Michael’s Skin Clinic is based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire and provides an outpatient dermatology service to private patients and NHS patients. The clinic specialises in skin treatments including medical, surgical and laser in addition to a range of non-surgical cosmetic interventions, for example botulinum toxin injections and dermal fillers which are not within CQC scope of registration. Therefore, we did not inspect or report on these services.

The 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.

Mr Paul Haycox 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.

CQC comment cards were not distributed to the provider prior to the inspection in order to minimise the risks associated with the COVID -19 pandemic. However, the clinic had systems in place to gain patient feedback.

Our key findings were:

• Patients were able to access care and treatment within an appropriate timescale for their needs. They received clear information about their proposed treatment which enabled them to make an informed decision.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• There was a system in place to manage infection prevention and control (IPC). Audits were undertaken and action plans developed however, these did not include all identified actions for improvement.
• The service ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence-based guidelines and current best practice.
• The service had systems in place to review the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided.
• Systems, processes and records had been established to seek consent and to offer coordinated and person-centred care.
• Clinical staff were registered with the appropriate governing body and there was a system in place to ensure they were up to date with revalidation.
• Staff maintained the necessary skills and competence to support patients’ needs, however a greater oversight of essential training staff had undertaken was required.
• People using the service were treated with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• The provider and staff team demonstrated a positive culture and a commitment to the delivery of person-centred care and treatment and continuous learning and improvement.
• The provider was aware of, and complied with, the requirements of the duty of candour.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Review recruitment processes to ensure all checks are carried out in line with policy and regulation.
• Review infection prevention and control audits and cleaning schedules to ensure they are effective.
• Maintain an accurate record of staff training and ensure all staff have completed essential training within the required timescales.
• Further develop quality improvement activity to include repeat clinical audits.
• Consider developing an information sharing agreement with local GP practices.
• Develop a documented business plan to achieve priorities.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

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