A beauty clinic offering nose jobs to children has been slammed after an inspection found staff didn’t have the proper training to carry out the procedures. The service was rated inadequate by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) after it believed patients were “at risk of harm” unless urgent action was taken.
The cosmetic surgery clinic performs rhinoplasty on teenagers aged 16 to 18, which doesn’t legally require parental consent. However, there was no record of child safeguarding training to protect them from abuse, according to the report now published, following an inspection on March 10.
London Hair Transplant Clinic mostly carries out hair transplants, but for the past year or so has also begun to offer more invasive cosmetic surgery procedures including breast augmentation, rhinoplasty, liposuction and abdominoplasty. Inspectors also found that there weren’t enough staff on hand to care for patients and keep them safe, urine bottles and bed pans were disposed of incorrectly, medicines weren’t stored safely, and the theatres were dirty, MyLondon reports.
The report, published on April 26, said: “The theatre used for invasive surgical procedures had multiple pieces of equipment and trolleys covered in dust, indicating they had not been cleaned recently. The surgical light, which sat over the patient during surgery for visibility, was also dusty and parts of it were covered in cling film which increased infection risk.”
It added: “The theatre used for invasive surgical procedures also had rubbish throughout. There were multiple used water bottles left on surfaces and on surgical devices. In one corner of the theatre, there was a pile of rubbish, which had not been disposed of.”
Throughout the inspection, medicines were found in unlocked cupboards and drawers, including those used to anaesthetize or sedate patients, and sharps bins weren’t labelled correctly. The report acknowledged that staff wore the correct personal protective equipment (PPE), patients were given appointments when they wanted them, and staff treated patients “with compassion and kindness and respected their privacy and dignity” while they were having treatment.
Services rated as inadequate overall are placed straight into special measures. The purpose of special measures is to ensure that providers found to be providing inadequate care significantly improve.
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CQC has required the clinic to take a number of measures to improve the service ahead of a follow-up inspection, including completing staff training, improving cleaning, and ensuring medicines are stored securely. London Hair Transplant Clinic was approached for comment but did not respond ahead of publication.
