Archived: Diamond Skin Care Limited

This service is rated as Requires improvement overall.

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Requires improvement

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Requires improvement

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of Diamond Skin Care Limited on 12 December 2022, as part of our inspection programme. Diamond Skin Care Limited is registered under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 to provide the following regulated activities:

• Diagnostic and screening procedures

• Surgical Procedures

• Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

This service provides a full range of independent dermatology services, offering a mix of regulated skin treatments and other non-regulated aesthetic treatments. 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. Therefore, we only inspected and reported on the services which are within the scope of registration with the CQC.

The Director of Diamond Skin Care Limited 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 provider had not carried out risk assessments to understand the service need for emergency medicine and equipment provision. The provider could not provide assurance that emergency medicines and equipment were checked to ensure they were suitable for the service or fit for purpose.
• The provider had systems to keep clinicians up to date with current evidence-based guidance.
• Staff treated patients with compassion, respect and kindness and comments left by patients said they were involved in decisions about their care. We found reviews on the Diamond Skin Care Limited website and online, which showed that patients were consistently positive about the service, and described staff as professional, helpful and caring. We were also shown positive feedback from patients collected by the provider.
• The service encouraged feedback from patients which was positive and included timely access to the service.
• There was an absence of understanding or arrangements to manage risks by the provider. There was a lack of assessment systems or assurance that safe, and well-led services were effective for example, environmental checks, and oversight of infection prevention and control.

The areas where the provider must make improvements as they are in breach of regulations are:

• Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.

(Please see the specific details on action required at the end of this report).

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Identify and document the organisational lead within policies for infection prevention and control and safeguarding for children and vulnerable adults.
• Audit prescribing for assurance safe prescribing guidelines were followed
• Improve the accessibility of information for patients about the complaints process.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

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