Lasercare Clinics (Harrogate) Limited Also known as Sk:n - Chelmsford

Updated 31 March 2023

This service is provided by Lasercare Clinics (Harrogate) Limited and is part of the sk:n brand clinics. Lasercare Clinics (Harrogate) Limited also known as sk:n Chelmsford, is a private clinic based at 1 Navigation Yard, Chelmsford, CM2 6HZ. The provider has around 50 locations registered with the CQC in England.

Lasercare Clinics (Harrogate) Limited is registered to treat patients aged 18 years and over. The services offered include those that fall under registration, such as mole removal, minor skin procedures involving a surgical procedure and medical acne treatment. Other procedures, that do not fall under scope of registration include lip fillers, skin peels, anti-ageing injectables, dermal fillers and laser hair removal.

A link to the clinic’s website is below:

https://www.sknclinics.co.uk/clinics/the-south/chelmsford-navigation-yard

The service operates on Tuesdays to Thursdays 12pm to 8pm, on Fridays 9am to 5pm and on Saturdays 9am to 6pm and is closed on Mondays and Sundays. A service is not provided outside of these hours. Surgical procedures and the prescribing of medicines at the service is carried out by the clinical doctor. The service employs doctors, a nurse and reception staff, as well as a clinic manager who oversees appointments and administration for all patients.

The service is accessible by car, public transport, or foot. There are short and long stay car parks in the nearby vicinity and the nearest train station is a 10-minute walk.

How we inspected this service

Before visiting we reviewed a range of information we hold about the service and information provided pre-inspection by the service. This included:

• Key policies and protocols which related to regulated activities.
• The systems in place for the running of the service.

During our inspection we:

• Spoke with the registered manager.
• Observed the premises where services were delivered from.
• Checked the environment and infection control measures.
• Explored how clinical decisions were made.
• Spoke with staff involved in the regulated activities.
• Observed staff interactions with patients via telephone and in person.
• Reviewed patient feedback received by the provider.

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 31 March 2023

This service is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspection March 2014 – the provider was meeting all essential standards inspected.)

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 Lasercare Clinics (Harrogate) Limited on 10 March 2023 as part of our inspection programme and to provide a rating for this service.

Lasercare Clinics (Harrogate) Limited is a doctor-led clinic specialising in dermatology, providing a range of aesthetic and cosmetic treatments with some minor surgical procedures.

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. Lasercare Clinics (Harrogate) Limited provides a range of non-surgical cosmetic interventions, for example, microdermabrasion, skin peels and dermal fillers which are not within CQC scope of registration. Therefore, we did not inspect or report on these services.

The clinic manager 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.

The only staff who were associated with the delivery of regulated activities were two clinicians, a nurse and the management team. There were other staff on the premises who provided the non-regulated activities. The provider holds a contract to provide some NHS treatments at this location.

We requested the service share a link to our ‘Give Feedback on Care’ form, however we did not receive any feedback via this.

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.
• The service organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs. Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
• The way the service was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centred care.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Continue to improve systems for maintaining staff related employment and training records.
• Take action to ensure that records kept show full details of anaesthetic used in minor operations, in accordance with organisational protocols.
• Seek feedback on the quality of clinical care received as well as customer satisfaction.
• Update information and signage to make sure it identifies arrangements relating to access to interpreters, including BSL.
• Improve the clinical oversight of quality improvement and audit activity.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

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