Archived: Stafford Skincare Limited - Lichfield

Updated 12 October 2021

Skincare Limited-Lichfield is a private dermatology clinic for adults and children over the age of four years, run by Dr Kathleen Anne Ward, a Consultant dermatologist in the West Midlands. All appointments are with Dr Ward. The clinic operates from premises located at 48 Borrowcop Lane, Lichfield, Staffordshire WS14 9DG. The clinic is located in a residential area with free parking. Facilities are located on the ground floor which includes the treatment room. The opening hours are between 2pm and 6pm, by appointment only, on Wednesdays and Fridays. There are no out of hours consultations unless by prior arrangement and the provider is contactable by email or phone for patients in receipt of treatment or procedures out of hours.

Stafford Skincare Limited, is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to provide regulated actives including; diagnostic and screening procedures, surgical procedures, and treatment of disease, disorder or injury. Procedures offered that are not required to be registered with the CQC include for example, wrinkle relaxing injectables, treatments for hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating) and dermal fillers.

Dr Ward is the founder and medical director of Stafford Skincare – Lichfield. As a Consultant Dermatologist, Dr Ward is on the General Medical Council's Specialist Register, undergoing an annual appraisal and five-yearly revalidation to maintain her licence to practice medicine. Each year, Dr Ward attends multiple aesthetic and dermatological courses, enabling her to give up-to-date, evidence-based advice on conditions relating to skin and hair.

Dr Ward is a Consultant member of the British Association of Dermatologists, the British Cosmetic Dermatology Group, the Royal College of Physicians and the British Hair and Nail Society. Dr Ward works closely with the British Association of Dermatologists, and for example contributed to the publication of the UK National Guidelines for Photodynamic Therapy in 2019.

Dermatology minor surgical procedures offered by the service include for example, mole removal, skin tag removal, shave cautery (also called curettage and cautery), hyfrecation (a form of electro surgery which can be used to treat warts on the skin), punch biopsies (thesemay be used to check for certain types of cancer) and cryotherapy (the use of extreme cold to freeze and remove abnormal tissue). Medical treatment includes for example the treatment of acne, melasma (skin pigmentation) and acne scarring. On a sessional basis a self-employed registered nurse provides support during minor surgical procedures.

More information about the service can be found on their website: www.staffordskincare-lichfield.co.uk or www.stafford-skincare.co.uk ​

How we inspected this service

Throughout the pandemic CQC has continued to regulate and respond to risk. However, taking into account the circumstances arising as a result of the pandemic, and in order to reduce risk, we have conducted some of our inspections differently.

This inspection was carried out with a request for specific information prior to the inspection and an onsite visit. This included:

• Requesting evidence from the provider
• A site visit
• Conducting staff interviews
• Completing clinical searches on the clinics record system and discussing findings with the provider.
• Reviewing patient records to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider.
• Observations and reviews of documents.

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 12 October 2021

This service is rated as Good overall.

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Outstanding

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Stafford Skincare Limited-Lichfield as part of our inspection programme.

Skincare Limited -Litchfield is a private dermatology clinic for adults and children over the age of four years, run by Dr Kathleen Anne Ward, a Consultant dermatologist in the West Midlands. All appointments are with Dr Ward.

This service is registered with the Care Quality Commission (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. Stafford Skincare Limited provides a range of non-surgical cosmetic interventions, for example, dermal fillers, injectables, skin rejuvenation treatments and skincare products which are not within the scope of CQC registration. Therefore, we did not inspect or report on these services.

Dr Ward is the registered manager. A registered manager is a person who is registered with CQC 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.

Due to the current pandemic we were unable to obtain comments from patients via our normal process of asking the provider to place comment cards within the service location. However, we saw the clinics 2021 patient survey, there were 54 patients reviews. We found that patients were consistently extremely positive about the service, describing the service as professional, and that the clinic was very clean and well maintained. We did not speak with patients on the day, as there were none attending for regulated activities.

Our key findings were:

• The service had safety systems and processes in place to keep people safe. There were systems to identify, monitor and manage risks and to learn from incidents.
• There were regular reviews of the effectiveness of treatments, services and procedures to ensure care and treatment was delivered in line with evidence-based guidelines.
• The service had a programme of quality improvement through clinical and internal audits. These were used to monitor quality, make improvements and to provide quality auditable data. Annual reviews also took place.
• Staff treated patients with compassion, respect and kindness and involved them in decisions about their care.
• The treatment was carried out on time and advice was given and arrangements were in place for any potential follow up treatment.
• The leadership and governance arrangements promoted good quality care.

The Care Quality Commission received over 96 extremely positive unsolicited ‘share your experience of care’ reviews. We found and patients reported:

• There was a strong visible, person-centred culture, with the clinician highly motivated and inspired to offer care that was kind and promoted people’s dignity. Patients reported on the welcome and prompt service, which they described as professional, friendly and informative.
• Staff recognised and respected the totality of people’s needs. They took into account people’s personal, cultural, social and religious needs.
• People who used services were active partners in their care.
• The clinician was committed to working in partnership with people and making this a reality for each person. Patients who experienced care and treatment at the service reported on the individual approach and kindness and that care was tailored to their needs.
• Patients reported they had been in receipt of a detailed diagnosis with detailed treatment options that were fully explained. Explanation of patients conditions and the potential risks or issues were provided on a one to one basis in plain English with clear explanations of the condition and actions to be taken.
• Patients reported that they felt respected, listened too and found the clinician was thorough.
• Significant praise was made by patients for the clinician and the adaptations made to ensure safe practice during the pandemic. by implementing changes that reduced the impact on the timely delivery of care and treatment.
• The clinical environment and COVID-19 precautions in place, for example that the consultation/treatment room was meticulously clean.
• The services own patient survey produced consistently positive results year on year.

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