What is the role of CQC and what does CQC registered mean?
What do we mean by the phrase ‘CQC registered’? And what is the role of CQC? The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the regulator of healthcare in England and Wales; they monitor, inspect and regulate healthcare services to ensure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety. They are not the regulator for beauty services such as skin care, skin treatments such as hydrafacial or even injected treatments such as dermal filler or botox® injections as these services are referred to as ‘unregulated’.
Why does this matter to me?
We would hope that any provider of healthcare or aesthetic services would have your interests at heart as a patient. Unfortunately the reality is that is not always the case. Too often we read of reports of the latest disaster to befall someone who has unknowingly put their trust in a ‘cosmetic cowboy’ who won’t know what is the role of CQC is. Being an independent regulator, the CQC inspect provider clinics and ensure we adhere to a certain standard.
Being CQC registered means we adhere to the same standards expected of all healthcare providers which includes specialist hospitals (our services may differ but the standards expected of us are very high). Because the clinical team at LASE Cosmetic all have healthcare backgrounds it was very important to us that we bring these high standards to our patients whether the activity was regulated or not.
So, is being CQC regulated better?
We believe so but it isn’t so much about being better, instead it is more about reassurance. Because our clinic is CQC regulated we have been inspected by an independent authority and our procedure standards and safety protocols have been approved. A non-CQC aesthetic clinic has never been assessed, they may not know what is the role of CQC, therefore as a patient you cannot be certain their standards of care are good enough.
When we hear a great deal in the press about complications from filler injections or botched cosmetic surgery, we would always recommend seeking treatments from a clinic with the highest standards.
How do I check my clinic is CQC registered?
Like us, if they are registered they are likely to display the CQC logo on their homepage. However the best way to check is a very simple search on the CQC website (https://www.cqc.org.uk). All registered clinics are available here as well as the findings of the CQC is respect to the domains considered important by the CQC.
What are the domains?
When the CQC inspect a clinic they assess them in respect to 5 domains. They assess the clinic to see if they are:
- Safe
- Effective
- Caring
- Responsive
- Well-led
By passing all 5 domains, the CQC approve the clinic and publish their findings openly on their website. We believe this honest approach is the most important part of running a safe and ethical clinic. It demonstrates a clinic respects its patients and cares for their needs.
This is why we are very proud to be Newcastle’s CQC registered, combined surgical and nonsurgical, aesthetic clinic.
For more information on any of our services, contact us here.
Recent Comments