AL Medical Aesthetics & Wellness Ltd

Updated 22 October 2021

AL Medical Aesthetics & Wellness Ltd, 68 Albany Road, Bramhall, Stockport SK7 1NE is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) as an independent health service provider. The provider is a registered aesthetic nurse and offers a range of medical, cosmetic and aesthetic services to adults over the age of 18 years.

The web address for the service is: www.aspectofbeauty.co.uk

The location provides a modern purpose built facility in a separate part of a residential property. Access into the service is restricted by one step into the property, patients were made aware of the reduced disabled access before they made their initial appointment.

The service is registered with the CQC to provide the following regulated activity:

Treatment of disease, disorder and injury.

The clinical service is owned and managed by Amy Lamb who is also a registered advanced medical practitioner and who is appropriately registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

AL Medical Aesthetics & Wellness Ltd is open Tuesdays 4pm to 9pm, Wednesdays and Thursdays 9am to 9pm, Saturdays 9am to 6pm.

How we inspected this service

Due to the national restrictions in place in response to the pandemic and to minimise the risk of viral transmission this inspection used an adapted methodology to review and assess the quality and safety of the service being provided to paying members of the public. The inspection approach included a site visit where we spoke to the sole provider (Amy Lamb) and one person who used the service, a review and analysis of the service’s policies, procedures and other documentation.

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 22 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? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection, as part of our inspection programme on 22 September 2021 at AL Medical Aesthetics & Wellness Ltd. The service is provided from 68 Albany Road, Bramhall, Stockport SK7 1NE. This was the first CQC inspection for this location.

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. AL Medical Aesthetics & Wellness Ltd provides a range of non-surgical cosmetic interventions, for example facial fillers for skin rejuvenation, which are not within CQC scope of registration. Therefore, we did not inspect or report on these services. AL Medical and Aesthetics Ltd currently treats approximately 1600 patients, however, only 11 of these receive treatments that are regulated activities.

The registered provider is an advanced clinical practitioner within the NHS and a registered aesthetic nurse and leads the service, she is the only member of staff. 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.

The service was closed for several months during 2020 in accordance with lock down restrictions, apart from 4 weeks during October. AL Medical and Aesthetics Ltd re-opened on 12 April 2021, providing a service Tuesday 4pm to 9pm, Wednesday and Thursday 9am to 9pm and Saturday 9am to 6pm.

As part of our adapted inspection methodology to limit direct contact between the inspection team and people using the service we asked the provider to share our ‘contact us’ website link (https://www.cqc.org.uk/give-feedback-on-care ) so that patients could provide feedback directly to us. We did not receive any feedback forms, however, we were able to obtain feedback from other sources, for example speaking to patients and patients’ surveys.

Our key findings were:

• The service was offered on a private, fee-paying basis only and was accessible to patients who chose to use it.

• Information for patients was comprehensive and accessible. This included the services on offer and the levels of payment. However, it was not always clear whether patients had been offered licensed medecines for their treatment, before unlicensed alternatives were prescribed.

• Patient feedback was positive, complimenting the service they received and the quality of their care and treatment.

• There was good awareness of safety measures to minimise the risk of COVID19 transmission. Infection prevention and control measures were effectively implemented.

• Treatment outcomes were evaluated using feedback from patients and reviews carried out by the provider which included some audits to evaluate and undertake quality improvement processes.

• Procedures were mostly safely managed and there were effective levels of patient support and aftercare. However, medecines policies did not fully reflect current practice at the service. The provider assured us policies and operating procedures would be updated to be more comprehensive and safe.

• The electronic patient record system comprehensively recorded patients’ information including consent to treatment and photography.

• The provider was a registered aesthetic nurse and had the relevant skills, knowledge and experience to deliver the care and treatment offered by the service.

• The provider involved patients in decisions regarding their care and treatment. The service encouraged and valued feedback from patients.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Review and update policies and protocols to reflect the current practice.

• Only supply unlicensed medicines against valid special clinical needs of an individual patient where there is no suitable licensed medicine available.

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