HDC finds beauty clinic fails customer

The Deputy Health and Disability Commissioner has found a beauty clinic failed to provide a customer with enough information for her to give informed consent to a laser hair removal treatment she received.

Dr Vanessa Caldwell found the clinic breached Right 6(1) of the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights (the Code) – the right to be fully informed and Right 7(1) – the right to make an informed choice and give informed consent.

The consumer purchased a voucher for intense pulsed light (IPL) treatment for hair removal of underarms but was treated by the clinic for laser hair removal instead. The customer sustained an injury following the treatment.

Dr Caldwell says it was imperative that, as an employer, the clinic had a responsibility to make sure its staff were aware of, and complied with, the Auckland Council Health and Hygiene Code of Practice.

She says this requires providers to identify and record customers’ medical history and suitability for a service and obtain the customers’ signed consent. The provider should also give customers written advice about precautions and post service procedures.

“The clinic as an employer needed to have systems in place to ensure that its employees had the appropriate skills and knowledge to carry out treatments safely, that appropriate information about the client’s suitability for treatment was obtained and documented,” said Dr Caldwell.

Dr Caldwell recommended the clinic provide the customer with a written apology for the breaches of the Code and to develop a system to identify which employee has performed each treatment.

She also recommended all staff undertake further training in Auckland Council Health and Hygiene Bylaw 2013 and associated Code of Practice, and the Australia New Zealand Standard for the laser machine operation, and create policies for staff to follow in line with these standards.