Sk:n - Leeds Street Lane

Updated 15 December 2022

Sk:n – Leeds Street Lane is an independent health clinic which is part of a group of services under the provider Lasercare Clinics (Harrogate) Limited. The provider is located at 2 Bromwich Court, 1st Floor, Gorsey Lane, Coleshill, Birmingham, B46 1JU. Lasercare Clinics (Harrogate) Limited has 49 regional locations registered with CQC.

For this inspection we visited the clinic in Leeds at:

Sk:n – Leeds Street Lane

52 Street Lane

Roundhay

Leeds

West Yorkshire

LS8 2ET

The service is located on the first floor, above a commercial unit. Accommodation includes a reception and waiting area, and treatment and consultation rooms. There is no passenger lift or stairlift in the building. Patients with mobility issues are redirected to other clinics which are more accessible. There is parking onsite for service users, additional street parking is available if required. Sk:n shares the building with two other distinct services operated by the provider, The MOLE Clinic, and the Harley Medical Group.

The provider operates as a doctor-led service which specialises in the combination of medical aesthetic treatments and anti-ageing medicine, as well as offering rejuvenation and dermatology treatments.

Services are available to adults aged 18 years and over. This service is registered with CQC under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 in respect of the provision of advice or treatment by, or under the supervision of, a medical practitioner, including the prescribing of medicines for the support of cosmetic or medical treatments. Regulated activities include:

• Diagnostic and screening procedures.
• Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.
• Surgical procedures.

The clinic is staffed by a doctor, 2 nurse prescribers, 2 nurses, 4 aesthetic practitioners (non-medical), and a member of administrative staff. At the time of inspection, the service was in the process of appointing a new manager for the location. Until the manager is in post interim management cover is provided by managers from other clinics and from the regional management hub.

The service operates:

• Tuesday – Thursday 10am-8pm (the service is closed on a Monday)
• Friday 9am-7pm
• Saturday 9am-6pm
• Sunday 10am-5pm

Updated 15 December 2022

This service is rated as Good overall. The service had been previously inspected in February 2020 when it was rated as Good.

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

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Sk:n -Leeds Street Lane on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Sk:n - Leeds Street Lane is situated in the Roundhay area of Leeds, West Yorkshire. The provider operates as an independent doctor-led service which specialises in the combination of medical aesthetic treatments and anti-ageing medicine, as well as offering rejuvenation and dermatology services.

The service is registered with the Care Quality Commission (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. For example, Sk:n – Leeds Street Lane provides a range of non-surgical cosmetic interventions, for example laser hair removal, lip fillers and facial peels which are not within CQC scope of registration. Therefore, we did not inspect or report on these services.

Sk:n – Leeds Street Lane shares the building it operates from with two other distinct services operated by the provider, The MOLE Clinic, and Harley Medical Group. These services did not form part of the inspection.

At the time of inspection, the location did not have a registered manager in post, and the provider was in the process of appointing someone into this role. 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. The provider did have a person designated as a nominated individual for the service.

Why we carried out this inspection

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Sk:n – Leeds Street Lane in response to concerns that had been raised with us.

How we carried out the inspection

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site.

This included:

• Conducting staff interviews, some using telephone conferencing.
• Reviewing patient records to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider.
• Requesting evidence from the provider.
• Undertaking a site visit to the location.
• Speaking with patients and reviewing their feedback.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we asked the following questions:

• Is it safe?
• Is it effective?
• Is it caring?
• Is it responsive?
• Is it well-led?

These questions formed the framework for the areas we looked at during the inspection.

Our key findings were:

• The service 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.
• Leaders and staff from the organisation were open, transparent and honest regarding issues and challenges they had identified. Once identified, issues such as delays in handling complaints had been tackled and processes put in place to prevent recurrence.
• The service had developed a detailed quality assurance and audit programme. This was regularly reviewed and reported to organisational board level.
• The service routinely sought feedback from patients and used this to improve services.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Continue with the application process to appoint a suitable registered manager.
• Improve the consistency of care record completions.
• Improve the accuracy of pathology sample records, and the timeliness of handling and reporting results.
• Continue to promote staff engagement and hold performance management meetings.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

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