Archived: Neville Service

We carried out an unannounced focussed inspection on 5 November 2015, due to concerns raised from service users about the quality and safety of the service provided. We looked at whether the service was safe, effective and well-led.

Our findings were:

Are services safe?

We found that this service was not providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services effective?

We found that this service was not providing effective care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services well-led?

We found that this service was not providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Background

Neville Service (trading as Nu Cosmetic Clinic Liverpool) is an independent healthcare provider situated in Rodney Street Liverpool and provides cosmetic surgery. The clinic is open 9am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday and also provides weekend appointments.

The responsible individual for the registered provider 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.

Our inspection identified there was a serious risk to patients’ lives, health or wellbeing. As a result of serious concerns being identified on 5 November 2015 the registration of this provider was cancelled with immediate effect by court order on 25 November 2015 under section 30 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Our key findings were:

• The service did not identify record or investigate significant or serious incidents that had occurred.

• There was no system in place to learn from incidents to reduce the risk of harm to patients.
• Staff demonstrated no understanding of incident reporting to improve the safety of the service provided.
• The system in place to record patients medical histories prior to a procedure taking place were inadequate and placed patients at risk of harm.
• There was no infection control policy and procedure in place to protect patients from healthcare associated infections.
• The recruitment process in place was inadequate and there was no appraisal system in place. This placed patients at risk of receiving unsafe and inappropriate care and treatment.
• Complaints were not appropriately investigated or handled in an open and transparent manner.
• Patients’ records were poorly maintained.
• Patients’ informed consent was not routinely sought.
• There were no clinical governance systems in place to monitor the safety of the service.
• Emergency equipment and medicines available at the service were not adequate to maintain patient safety with regard to some of the surgical procedures being carried out.
• The registered manager had insufficient knowledge of his role and responsibilities to maintain a safe environment for patients to receive care and treatment.