My Beauty Doctor

Updated 26 September 2019

My Beauty Doctor is a private, GP led, dermatology service which also provides aesthetic medical and cosmetic services in Marlow, Buckinghamshire.

Services are provided from:

• My Beauty Doctor, 10 Chapel Street, Marlow, Buckinghamshire SL7 1DD

The service website is:

• www.mybeautydoctor.co.uk

My Beauty Doctor is located in a Grade II converted premises in Marlow in Buckinghamshire. All services are provided from the same premises, which contains a clinical treatment room on the ground floor with private waiting room and private exit to the rear. There are two further treatment rooms (for unregulated activities) on the first floor.

The majority of the services available at My Beauty Doctor are exempt by law from Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulation. Regulated activities make up approximately 5% of the clinic’s services. Therefore, we were only able to inspect an element of the GP led skin treatment service accessed via two prescription only topical creams and the recently launched (July 2019) weight loss programme (injectable weight loss medicine) as part of this inspection.

The team comprises of a GP, a therapist and a clinic manager/receptionist, however only the GP provides the regulated activities we inspected.

There is a range of appointments which allow clients to access the services. Appointments are available Monday to Friday, between 9am and 3.30pm, one evening a week and Saturday mornings between 9.30am and 1pm. This service is not required to offer an out of hours service. However, in the out of hours period, the GP oversees the service email account for urgent queries. This is detailed in patient literature supplied by the service.

Updated 26 September 2019

This service is rated as Good overall.

The previous inspection was in April 2018.

The inspection report for the previous inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all services’ link for My Beauty Doctor on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Since the April 2018 inspection, our inspection methodology has changed and therefore this is a rated inspection and 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 My Beauty Doctor in Marlow, Buckinghamshire on 6 September 2019. 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.

My Beauty Doctor is registered with 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. Some of the services available at My Beauty Doctor, for example the cosmetic treatments, including non-invasive laser procedures are exempt by law from CQC regulation. Therefore, we were only able to inspect the GP led skin treatment service accessed via two prescription only topical creams and the weight loss programme (injectable weight loss medicine) as part of this inspection.

The GP is the registered manager and provider for the service. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the CQC 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.

As part of our inspection we asked for CQC comment cards to be completed by patients prior to our inspection, we received 14 completed comment cards which were all positive about the standard of care they received. The service was described as first-rate and professional, whilst staff were described as attentive, helpful and caring.

Our key findings were:

• The two regulated services within My Beauty Doctor were providing safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.
• The service had clear systems to keep people safe and safeguarded from abuse. The service used recognised screening processes to identify patients who could be at risk of eating disorders or co-morbidities.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs. The way in which care was delivered was reviewed to ensure it was delivered according to best practice guidance and staff were well supported to update their knowledge through training.
• Patients were provided with information about their health and with advice and guidance to support them to live healthier lives. This included sun protection and healthy eating advice.
• Feedback from patients was consistently positive, feedback highlighted a strong person-centred culture.
• The service did not provide treatment where they felt it was not in the patient’s best interest. The GP was motivated to prioritise the needs of their patient’s.
• Services were tailored to meet the needs of individual patients. They were delivered in a flexible way that ensured choice and continuity of care. Registered patients could visit the service for weight management advice and be weighed as often as they wished.
• There was an overarching provider vision and strategy with evidence of good local leadership within the service. There were clear responsibilities, roles and systems to support good governance and management.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care