The Face

Updated 18 August 2022

The Face is located at:

15 Radford Way,

Billericay,

CM12 0AA.

The Face is a dentist led independent aesthetic and skin clinic, which also provides medical treatment for a limited range of medical conditions. The treatments that were in scope of registration included Polydioxanone thread lifts, Kenelog injections to treat hayfever, Botulinum Toxin injections to treat hyperhidrosis, migraines and jaw tension. The staff involved in the regulated activities comprise of the dentist and a clinic manager. The registered provider is The Facial Aesthetic Skin Clinic Limited.

There is a website https://www.theface.org.uk/

The provider is registered with CQC to provide the following regulated activities:

• Surgical procedures
• Treatment of disease, disorder or injury

The clinic is open Monday and Tuesday 9.30am to 7pm, Wednesday to Friday 9.30am to 6pm and Saturday 9am to 2pm. The clinic is located within a two-minute walk of Billericay train station. There are two private car parking spaces available for clients which are accessed via a side road and public parking is available directly in front of the clinic. The premises has a clinical treatment room and beauty rooms, a waiting room facing away from the street and public display and a toilet. The reception desk is located on the ground floor.

How we inspected this service

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site. This was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements. This included requesting evidence from the provider before the inspection. We then conducted a short site visit to inspect the building, interview the dentist and clinic manager and review patient records.

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 18 August 2022

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 at The Face as part of our inspection programme. This service has not been inspected before.

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. The Face provides a range of non-surgical cosmetic interventions which are not within the CQC scope of registration. Therefore, we did not inspect or report on these services.

The service has one dentist conducting the regulated activities, who is also the registered provider. The individual provider is registered with 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.

At this inspection we found:

• The service provided care in a way that kept patients safe.
• All treatment and consultations that were in scope were carried out by the registered individual.
• The premises were clean and hygienic and infection prevention and control was well managed with appropriate cleaning processes in place.
• The service routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence-based guidelines.
• Patients were treated with respect and staff were kind, caring and involved them in decisions about their care.
• Patients were able to access care and treatment from the service within an appropriate timescale for their needs.
• The service demonstrated a culture which focused on the needs of patients and commitment to driving improvement.

Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:

• Improve the recruitment procedure regarding the checks of immunisation of staff and implement a system for checking staff clinical status.
• Implement a system for recording professional registration checks.

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