Archived: Whiteson Hair Loss Consultancy Ltd

Updated 9 December 2019

Dr Stephen Whiteson is the sole provider and is a qualified medical practitioner, registered with the General Medical Council. Dr Whiteson is registered to provide the regulated activity Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

The service is provided from an office within a building providing other health services which are not regulated by the Care Quality Commission:
The Old Hall Clinic
14 Old Hall Road
Gatley
Cheadle
Cheshire
SK8 4BE

There is on road parking close by.

The service is open from 9.30am to 7pm Monday to Friday. Patients are seen by appointment only.
The service has currently 1050 patients undergoing treatments, with approximately 1,660 registered patients since the service began 16 years ago.

How we inspected this service

The inspection was carried out on 5 November 2019. Prior to the visit, we received and reviewed some information from the provider. During the visit we:

• Spoke with the nominated individual, who is also sole provider (a nominated individual is a person who is registered with the CQC to supervise the management of the regulated activities and for ensuring the quality of the services provided).
• Reviewed policies, training records and equipment.
• Reviewed a sample of patient care and treatment records.
• Reviewed comments cards in which clients shared their views and experiences of the service.

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 9 December 2019

This service is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspection October 2018 was a comprehensive un-rated inspection, where we judged the service to be compliant with regulations.)
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 this comprehensive inspection at Whiteson Hairloss Consultancy limited under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the service was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Whiteson Hair Loss Consultancy Ltd provides treatment for men and women over 18 years of age who are experiencing hair loss. Seventeen patients provided feedback about the service; all comments were positive about the service provided, many describing Dr Whiteson as being extremely caring and professional.

Our key findings were:

• The service had good systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen.
• 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.
• Appropriate medical records were maintained.
• Dr Whiteson involved and treated people with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• Patients could access care and treatment from the service within an appropriate timescale for their needs.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement.
• Information about services and how to complain was available. We found the systems and processes in place to manage and investigate complaints were effective.
• The service proactively sought feedback from staff and clients, which it acted on.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Update safeguarding procedures to include the direct contact details of the local safeguarding team.
• Maintain accurate records of portable equipment testing

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