The Derma Clinic Kent is proud to be CQC Registered.
What is CQC?
CQC stands for Care Quality Commission., an independent regulator that registers health and adult social care service providers in England. Their aim is to make sure that the services offered are:
Safe
Effective
Compassionate
High Quality
We are glad that the CQC also monitors, inspects and regulates medical aesthetic clinics that offer services that fall into their scope of regulation. Once a clinic is registered, the CQC will publish the name and location of the clinic and its findings. These reports will often include ratings, which show their overall judgement of the institution's quality of care. CQC also make recommendations to help the care provider improve their rating.
This information can help you make a more informed decision when choosing the clinic you wish to visit to address your concerns.
Are All Aesthetic Clinics and Providers CQC Compliant?
The reality is many aesthetic clinics in the UK are not CQC registered.
The laws regulating non-surgical cosmetic treatments in the UK are still very lax and, for many treatments, non-existent. Did you know that practitioners who administer non-surgical cosmetic treatments aren't legally required to have any qualifications? Surprising but true. In the UK, procedures can be performed by anyone, regardless of their level of training, medical or otherwise. This is something we are hoping the UK government will rectify soon.
There are many different requirements to be met before the clinic becomes registered. You can find most of these requirements in the Care Quality Commission Regulations of 2009 and the Health and Social Care Act of 2008. Many clinic owners and practitioners comment that getting CQC compliance is a very thorough process (as it should be). Sadly, because of this, most either give up or never get started in the first place.
How Are CQC Inspections Conducted?
To complete the report on a medical aesthetics clinic (or any health institution), the CQC conducts a comprehensive investigation which includes a site visit, evidence requests, staff interviews and a review of patient records (handled with utmost care and confidentiality). The CQC conducts this inspection at least once every three years.
When conducting their inspections, the CQC ask five basic questions:
Is the organisation safe?
Is the organisation effective?
Is the organisation caring?
Is the organisation responsive to people's needs?
Is the organisation well-led?
While each bullet point often leads to numerous other questions, the key thing to note is that these 5 questions (referred to by CQC as their key lines of enquiry) ensure consistency and a focus on the areas that matter most.
CQC then awards a rating based on their assessment of the evidence against what they consider best practice and recognised guidelines.
We are CQC Registered!
You might have noticed that we always talk about our 'patients'. As a medical aesthetics clinic, you aren't 'clients' or 'customers'. You're under our care. As a Nurse-Led clinic, we have a duty of care to you - and that means your well-being comes first in everything we do. You might think of us as offering a service or delivering treatments, but actually, we provide care - helping our patients reach their personal goals with the highest standards of safety & ethics.
That's why we were so proud when we were granted our Care Quality Commission (CQC) Registration in 2022.
This recognition is so essential for our patients for several reasons:
It demonstrates that our clinic meets rigorous quality standards and is safe for patients.
It shows that our team is competent and knowledgeable in a field where there is, unfortunately, a lack of regulation in many areas.
It protects & safeguards our patients.
Our reviews mean the world to us, but receiving this seal of approval from an impartial and well-respected organisation was a huge accomplishment for us and our proudest achievement to date. Choosing The Derma Clinic Kent for your non-surgical treatments is a decision you can make with confidence.
Rest assured, when you are under our care, you are in the safest of hands.
You can check our registration details and read our inspection reports (rated at the highest level) via the below CQC form.
