What Else You Need to Consider When Setting Up a New Service

Launching a new healthcare service—whether in general practice, medical aesthetics, or another independent clinical field—can be exciting and rewarding. But beyond your business plan and CQC registration, there are a range of operational, governance, and regulatory considerations that can make or break your success.

Here’s what you really need to think about when setting up a new service.

1. Governance and Leadership

Strong governance is the foundation of a compliant and well-run service. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) expects every provider to have effective systems and processes to ensure safety, quality, and accountability (Regulation 17).

You’ll need to define:

• Clear leadership roles and lines of accountability
• A process for learning, incident management, and improvement
• A culture that values openness, feedback, and safety.

2. Policies and Procedures

You can’t operate compliantly without robust documentation.
Key policies include:

• Safeguarding, Consent, Infection Control, and Information Governance.
• HR and Training policies to ensure staff competence and ongoing development.
• Incident Reporting, Risk Management, and Clinical Governance frameworks.

Make sure all policies are reviewed regularly and reflect the services you actually deliver.

3. Staff Competence and Training

The CQC will assess how you ensure your staff are qualified, competent, and confident in their roles.
You’ll need:

• Role-specific induction and training plans.
• Evidence of competency assessments.
• Ongoing supervision and appraisal processes.

If you’re a new aesthetic or healthcare provider, remember to check that prescribers and practitioners work within their scope of practice and hold appropriate insurance and training certifications. You must be able to evidence this and not just say these things exist.

4. Environment and Safety

Your physical (or virtual) environment must be safe, clean, and suitable for the treatments you provide.
This includes:

• Risk assessments for the premises and equipment
• Infection prevention and control measures
• Patient privacy and dignity arrangements
  If your service is home-based or remote, you’ll still need to evidence safe systems, patient confidentiality, and professional boundaries.

5. Information Governance and Data Protection

Under CQC Regulation 17 and the Data Protection Act 2018, you must ensure that all patient data is stored securely, shared appropriately, and used only for legitimate care purposes.
Set up clear systems for:

• Data access control
• Secure record keeping
• Confidentiality training for staff.

6. Risk Management and Continuous Improvement

Every new service should start with a risk register and a clear plan for quality improvement.
Ask yourself:

• How will we identify and mitigate risks?
• How will we collect and act on patient feedback?
• What’s our process for reviewing incidents and learning from them?

7. Preparing for Inspection

Finally, always think CQC readiness.
From the moment you open your doors, inspectors can assess your compliance against the CQC’s Assessment Framework—covering the five key questions: Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive, and Well-Led.

Your documentation, staff awareness, and leadership visibility will all influence your success.

At BAXCQC, we specialise in helping new providers navigate every stage of CQC registration and CQC compliance—from governance design to mock inspections and staff training.

• Avoid costly delays
• Achieve a smooth CQC registration
• Build confidence from day one

Contact us today to ensure your new service is compliant, confident, and inspection-ready from the very beginning.