AL Aesthetics

Updated 21 April 2023

AL Aesthetics Ltd is the registered provider. The clinic is located at 131 Union Road, Shirley, Solihull, B90 3BZ. More information about the service can be found on their website www.alaesthetics.co.uk/solihull-clinic/

The provider also has clinics in London and Wolverhampton. The provider does not provide regulated activities from these clinics and so they were not inspected as part of this inspection.

The clinic facilities at the Solihull clinic are on the ground floor of a converted house which has been renovated to provide appropriate facilities. These include reception, a consulting room, a treatment room (minor operating room), patient toilet facilities and car parking.

The provider is registered with the Care Quality Commission to carry out the following regulated activities: Surgical procedures and treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

AL Aesthetics is a private clinic offering services to fee-paying patients. Services include consultation and treatment for Botox for migraines and hyperhidrosis (excess sweating) and minor surgery (removal of moles, lipoma and skin tags).

The service is open for queries and appointment bookings Monday to Friday 10am to 7pm and 11am to 4pm on Saturdays.

The clinic is open for consultations on Mondays and Wednesdays 11am to 4pm and for surgical procedures on Saturdays 11am to 4pm.

Clinic staff include 2 surgeons, a clinic manager and nurse.

The service provides 24 hours telephone cover for post-operative support. Staff explain to people when aftercare information is given, if it is an emergency they need to attend accident and emergency (A&E).

How we inspected this service

Before our inspection we reviewed information we held about the provider. We also requested and reviewed information from the provider before the inspection and information available on the providers’ website. We carried out a site visit, reviewed records and interviewed the provider and clinic staff.

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 21 April 2023

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 at AL Aesthetics on 14 March 2023 as part of our inspection programme.

This is the first time this service has been inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) following its registration as a new service in August 2020.

AL Aesthetics is a private clinic in the West Midlands. The service provides consultations and treatment for minor surgery (removals of lipoma, moles, skin tags), and Botox for migraines and hyperhidrosis (excess sweating).

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. AL Aesthetics provides a range of non-surgical cosmetic interventions, for example facial rejuvenation, anti-wrinkle treatments and non-surgical rhinoplasty, which are not within CQC scope of registration. Therefore, we did not inspect or report on these services.

The service manager was also 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 produced policies and processes to keep patients safe, however, not all policies were comprehensive or fully embedded.
• Clinicians collected and assessed relevant medical information before making a decision on what treatment to offer.
• Patients had enough time to review information before making a decision about whether to proceed with treatment.
• The provider had systems in place to monitor performance and to improve the quality of services delivered.
• Patient feedback we viewed was positive about the service.
• Patients were able to get an appointment or access the clinic for aftercare advice in a timely manner.
• We found that not all governance systems were robust and although the provider had taken action to mitigate risks, systems in place did not allow the provider to identity and manage all potential risks.

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:

• Improve the safeguarding policy to include training requirements and include information on what to do if staff have a concern about a child.
• Take action to formally assess how accessible the service is and take relevant action, so that anyone wishing to use the service can access it on an equal basis to others.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

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