Vein Solutions Ltd Chester Wellness Centre

Updated 20 September 2022

Vein Solutions Ltd Chester Wellness Centre operates from within premises at Chester Wellness Centre. The premises have been adapted for use.

They provide care and treatment to people aged 18 years and over.

Vein Solutions service consists of a doctor and nurse who are specialists in their field of work. The clinical team are supported by administrative staff.

Opening hours/hours of operation:

• Wednesday 1pm – 5pm
• Friday 4pm -7pm
• Saturday three out of four weekends

The service is registered with CQC under the Health and Social Care 2008 to provide the following Regulated Activities:

Diagnostic and screening procedures

Surgical procedures

Treatment of disease, disorder or injury

How we inspected this service

Before visiting we reviewed information we hold about the service and asked the service to send us information. This included their latest statement of purpose, details of staff employed including their qualifications and proof of registration with their professional bodies. As part of the inspection we reviewed feedback gathered from patients, spoke to the registered manager, clinical staff and non-clinical staff. We reviewed a range of documents.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we always ask the following five questions:

• Is it safe?
• Is it effective?
• Is it caring?
• Is it responsive to people’s needs?
• Is it well-led?

These questions therefore formed the framework for the areas we looked at during the inspection.

Updated 20 September 2022

This service is rated as Good overall.

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Vein Solutions Ltd Chester Wellness Centre as part of our inspection programme. We carried out this inspection because this location had not been inspected or rated since its registration with the Care Quality Commission in 2021.

Vein Solutions is a private service specialising in varicose vein treatment using a range of minimally invasive modern techniques for the treatment of all types of varicose veins. Vein Solutions also provided a range of non-surgical cosmetic interventions, for example anti-ageing injections and dermal fillers which are not within CQC scope of registration. Therefore, we did not inspect or report on these services.

The Regulated Activities are delivered by a clinician who is also the registered manager. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Our key findings were:

• Patients received care that was delivered safely and effectively.
• Clinicians assessed patients according to appropriate guidance, legislation and standards and delivered care and treatment in line with current evidence-based guidance.
• There were enough staff who were suitably qualified and trained.
• Patients were treated with respect and staff were kind, caring and involved them in decisions about their care.
• Patients received detailed and clear information about their proposed treatment which enabled them to make an informed decision. This included costs, risks and benefits of treatment.
• Pre-operative and post-operative care and advice was clear and written information was available in different formats.
• Patients were offered appointments and treatment in a timely manner to suit their needs.
• The service had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• There was an effective governance framework in place in order to gain feedback and to assess, monitor and improve the quality of the services provided.
• The provider was aware of the requirements of the Duty of Candour.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Review the dispensing of post-operative medicines to include personalised information on the medicine container.
• Consider implementing an infection control audit to be undertaken on a regular basis.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Hospitals and Interim Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services