Archived: skindocUK Headquarters

Updated 5 September 2022

SkindocUK Ltd is a private (fee paying) online dermatology consultation service. The service is run from an office which is purely an administration site. Consultations take place remotely with a UK based clinician.

The service offers three types of appointment: a photo upload service, a livestream video service and an enhanced video service for patients being prescribed Roaccutane (a prescription only medicine primarily used to treat severe acne).

Patients are diagnosed, treatment prescribed and delivered to patients by use of an online pharmacy delivery service. The service does not see any patients in person.

The service is registered to provide the regulated service of treatment of disease, disorder or injury. Services are provided to both children and adults. The service operates from 8am to 10.30pm seven days a week.

How we inspected this service

Prior to the inspection we asked the provider to send us specific information relevant to service. We also looked at information we hold about the service. We attended the service’s registered address, interviewed staff and reviewed information held on their system.

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 5 September 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 skindocUK Ltd as part of our inspection programme. This was the location’s first inspection since it registered with CQC.

SkindocUK Ltd is an online dermatology consultation service.

The provider is a partnership. One of the partners 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 key findings were:

• The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
• The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centred care.

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

• Implement a documented risk assessment process for the prescribing of Roaccutane (a prescription only medicine primarily used to treat severe acne), where the patient has declined for their GP to be notified.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Hospitals and Interim Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services