Archived: Aesthetic Beauty Centre - Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Aesthetic Beauty Centre – Newcastle-upon-Tyne is operated by Aesthetic Beauty Centre LLP. The service is registered to provide a range of surgical and cosmetic procedures under local anaesthetic or sedation to fee paying patients over 18 years old.

The service is situated in a large detached house which has been converted into a clinic, that is wheelchair accessible to ground floor level (but without ramps) and is located conveniently for access to local public transport networks, but also has on street parking.

There is a downstairs reception room and waiting room, a consulting room and unisex toilet. On the first floor there was a theatre, pre-theatre room, shower/toilet room, clean and dirty utility, and recovery room, together with a room used by staff for administrative purposes.

We inspected this service using our responsive inspection methodology following information we received from the provider that confirmed they would recommence regulated activities from 01 July 2020. We carried out a short notice announced inspection on 26 July 2020 along with virtual interviews on-line with staff on 27 July 2020.

Throughout the inspection, we took account of what people told us and how the provider understood and complied with the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

The main service provided by this location is Aesthetic Beauty Centre – Newcastle upon Tyne. Where our findings on Aesthetic Beauty Centre – Newcastle upon Tyne – for example, management arrangements – also apply to other services, we do not repeat the information but cross-refer to the Aesthetic Beauty Centre – Newcastle upon Tyne service level.

Following this inspection, we identified areas where the provider must make improvements. Details are at the end of the report.

Services we rate

We had not previously rated this service which was registered in October 2010. As this was a focussed responsive inspection, we looked at specific areas and did not cover the whole domains on key questions. Therefore, we inspected but did not rate the service.

We found the following issues, where the service provider was not meeting regulations:

• The recovery environment did not meet infection prevention and control best practice in line with national guidance. This had been identified at previous inspections in September and December 2019 and again in January 2020. At this inspection there had been some improvements made to the environment, but these remained insufficient to provide adequate infection prevention and control practice.

• The provider had stopped decontamination of their own surgical instruments but had not been able to provide CQC with a copy of a contract or service level agreement to ensure surgical instruments were decontaminated in line with regulations.

• Previous inspections had identified patient risk assessments were not always completed and updated in line with best practice. We found this had not improved at this inspection.

• Previous inspections had identified operation notes were not recorded on appropriate documentation for their purpose. Due to this it meant notes were difficult to find and not easily legible. At this inspection we found current patient records given to CQC by the provider were not always updated from consultations which had place up to a year ago and legibility remained very poor.

• There were no environmental risk assessments and no risk assessments carried out for new equipment. There was equipment stored in clinical areas and the provider had not recognised this as a risk. A new external staircase had been built but staff had not recognised the need to carry out a risk assessment.

• Previous inspections identified policies within the service did not reflect the environment or accurate processes used within the service. At this inspection we found a new policy and procedure manual had been produced but the old policies remained in place and there were still policies where roles and the environment were not accurately reflected. New patient pathway documentation referred to policies that did not exist or remained unchanged.

• Previous inspections had identified there was no audit of pre-operative risk assessments to ensure these were thorough and complete. At this inspection we found that although staff told us they had carried out records audits, patient preassessment documentation was still not fully completed, signed or dated even though patients were booked for surgery.

• Previous inspections identified the leadership team were unable to demonstrate full understanding of their responsibilities in carrying out or managing regulated activities and meeting the standards required by the HSCA regulations. At this inspection we found this had not improved. Some responsibilities had been delegated to a business consultant including the creation of a new policy and procedure manual, but the leadership team were still unable to demonstrate a full understanding of their roles and responsibilities as providers of a healthcare service.

• The provision of out of hours care was not robust. At previous inspections we were not assured a patient who required urgent treatment, when the surgeon was operating at other locations, would receive care from medical professionals with the appropriate skills and competence. Although the provider assured us there was an agreement in place with a local NHS trust, the formal document to confirm these arrangements could not be provided to us.

• There was out of hours cover provided at another facility where procedures were carried out under practising privileges. However, patients did not stay at the facility overnight following procedures.

However:

• The provider had addressed some areas of infection prevention and control. These included replacement of the sink in the theatre, provision of a handwashing sink in the recovery room, and washable hard flooring in clinical areas.

• Medicines were stored securely and correctly.

Following this inspection, we were not assured the provider had taken sufficient action to comply with all of the Health and Social Care Act (HSCA) 2008 Regulations (2014) and there was an ongoing risk of harm to patients undergoing cosmetic surgery procedures at this location.  We will add full information about our regulatory response to the concerns we have described to a final version of this report, which we will publish in due course.

Ann Ford

Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals (North)