Aesthetics clinic placed into special measures

A medical aesthetics clinic has been rated inadequate and placed in special measures by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Face Perfect Clinic Ltd in Leeds has been found to have problems with safety, effectiveness and leadership.

Although the staff "treat people with kindness, empathy and compassion", inspectors said that the risks to patients as they moved between care services were not properly managed.

A spokesperson from the clinic said: "Since the inspection, we have already taken immediate steps to strengthen our clinical oversight and governance processes."

Face Perfect Clinic, on Park Square North in the city centre, was inspected during November and December, with the CQC rating the areas of safe, effective and well-led as "inadequate". Caring and responsive were rated as "good".

At the time of inspection, the independent nurse-led clinic provided treatments for excessive sweating, bruxism, acne, hormone replacement and medical weight management.

Leaders have since told the CQC they no longer offer hormone replacement or weight management services.

Inspectors said that the clinic did not have adequate systems to identify, act on or learn from incidents. They found that policies were not always clear or detailed enough for prescribers to follow safely.

The health watchdog said the service did not have proper processes to identify and manage risks when people moved between care services.

Inspectors also found no evidence that staff communicated with GPs about their care.

Clinical records were incomplete or lacking key information.

However, inspectors said that the clinic had appropriate infection prevention and control measures in place.

A spokesperson for the clinic said that since the inspection, they were "reviewing and updating their prescribing policies, introducing clearer incident reporting and learning systems, and improving clinical documentation".

They added that they were "formalising communication pathways with patients' GPs where appropriate".

The spokesperson said the team is "working closely with the CQC under the special measures framework" and was committed to making "rapid and sustained improvements".

The clinic will be closely monitored while improvements are made. It was first registered with the CQC in 2023.

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