The Hair Loss Clinic (NW) Limited is an independent service provider that leases the location from Pall Mall medical centre. The clinic is located on the lower ground floor of the building and there is a service level agreement with the organisation that occupies the ground floor of the building. The service level agreement is for use of the rooms, waste disposal, equipment maintenance and consumables.

The clinic offers hair transplants and hair solutions to the general public, adults only. We inspected surgery as the main core service for this service.

We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out the unannounced inspection on 2 August 2018.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we ask the same five questions of all services: are they safe, effective, caring, responsive to people's needs, and well-led? Where we have a legal duty to do so we rate services’ performance against each key question as outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate.

Throughout the inspection, we took account of what people told us and how the provider understood and complied with the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

Services we rate

We had not rated this service before and we rated it as good.

We found good practice at the clinic

• There were effective systems in place to manage infection control and the clinic had not had any incidence of hospital acquired infection. Records were electronic and were regularly audited by the clinic. Staff had completed mandatory training and there was other training in place to support staff development.

• There were processes in place to keep patients safe during treatment including a surgical checklist and all staff were trained in basic life support.

• Consent processes were robust and there was an appropriate cooling off period for patients. The clinic had a process for the monitoring of patient outcomes. Pain was well managed during and after surgery.

• Staff were caring and patient’s privacy and dignity was respected. The bedside manner of the surgeons was audited. Patient feedback about the service was very positive.

• Patients were able to choose their appointment times and were supported by a patient co-ordinator throughout the process. Provision was made for patients to stay in a hotel overnight before and after treatment if appropriate.

• The clinic had a vision for its services and there was an open culture. There was a governance committee that reviewed complaints, approved policy and looked at patient feedback.

• The surgeons had all had their appraisals and we saw that they were partaking in continual professional development to improve their skills and techniques. The surgeons had appropriate indemnity assurance.

We found outstanding practice

• The clinic collected patient feedback at all parts of their pathway and this information was used to improve the patient experience. We saw examples where the service had changed following patient feedback.

Following the inspection, we told the provider that it should make improvements, even though a regulation had not been breached, to help the service improve.

Ellen Armistead

Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals (North)