Clinical Governance: How We Check Our Surgeons

1. Who runs Centre for Surgery?

Centre for Surgery is a private hospital at 95–97 Baker Street in London, registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to carry out surgical procedures. The people responsible for the safety and quality of the care we give are:

Attika Valli, Registered Manager and Nominated Individual

Attika is registered with the CQC as the manager responsible for running our regulated services day to day. She is also our nominated individual, the person who supervises how M Sarwar Limited, the company behind Centre for Surgery, carries out those services and who answers to the CQC for them.

Dr Shahaab Bhatti, Medical Director

Shahaab is responsible for medical standards across the hospital, including how consultants are granted practising privileges and how any concern about a doctor’s practice is acted on.

Dr Ghulam Kadiwal, Consultant Anaesthetist and Chair of the Medical Advisory Committee

Dr Kadiwal is on the GMC Specialist Register. He chairs the committee of senior doctors that advises us on who may practise at the hospital and reviews the safety of the care we provide.

Dr Spyridon Vlachos, Specialist Plastic Surgeon and Medical Reviewer

Dr Vlachos is on the GMC Specialist Register for plastic surgery (GMC 7522950). He reviews the medical information we publish, as set out in our editorial policy.

Sowmya Nanjundaiah, Clinical Services Manager

Sowmya manages the day-to-day running of our clinical services, working with our theatre and nursing teams.

2. What are practising privileges?

Most consultants who operate in UK private hospitals are not employed by the hospital. Instead, the hospital grants them practising privileges: formal permission to treat patients there, under its policies and clinical governance. The hospital decides who receives them, for which procedures, and for how long.

Every consultant who treats patients at Centre for Surgery does so under practising privileges granted by us. That makes us responsible for checking that a surgeon is fit to practise here before they see a patient, and for carrying on checking while they work with us. It also means a surgeon cannot simply book theatre time and operate: they can only offer the procedures we have approved for them. The consultant who assesses you at your consultation is the consultant who performs your surgery.

3. How do we check a surgeon before they can operate?

Before a consultant is granted practising privileges, we check:

• GMC registration and licence to practise. Every doctor must be registered with the General Medical Council and hold a licence to practise. We check the register directly, including for any conditions or warnings.
• Specialist training. Their training and qualifications for the procedures they want to perform, and whether they are on the GMC Specialist Register.
• Scope of practice. Privileges are granted for named procedures. A surgeon can only offer operations here that fall within their training and experience.
• Indemnity cover. Insurance or indemnity for the private work they carry out with us.
• Appraisal and revalidation. Evidence of annual appraisal and that they are up to date with GMC revalidation.
• Background checks and references. An enhanced DBS check and professional references.
• Mandatory training. Up-to-date training in areas such as life support, safeguarding and infection prevention.

The same checks apply to the consultant anaesthetists who look after you during your operation. Our guide to anaesthesia for cosmetic surgery explains their role.

4. What does our Medical Advisory Committee do?

Our Medical Advisory Committee (MAC) is a group of senior doctors, chaired by Dr Ghulam Kadiwal, that gives independent clinical advice to the hospital’s leadership. It:

• advises on applications for practising privileges, and on renewing, limiting or withdrawing them;
• reviews new procedures and techniques before we offer them;
• reviews clinical incidents, complications and audit results;
• advises on our clinical policies.

Having the committee led by a consultant who is not one of our operating surgeons keeps decisions about who may operate, and what they may do, separate from the surgeons whose work is being reviewed.

5. How do we keep checking once a surgeon works here?

Practising privileges are reviewed regularly, not granted once and forgotten. At each review we look again at the surgeon’s registration, indemnity, appraisal and training, and at their outcomes and any complaints or incidents involving their patients. Privileges can be limited, suspended or withdrawn at any time if there is a concern about safety.

We also audit our results across the hospital. Each year we publish our clinical outcomes and patient safety figures, including our infection rate, revision rate, unplanned returns to theatre and the number of complaints we receive. We run regular audits of pain after surgery too, which have shaped how we combine total intravenous anaesthesia with local anaesthetic to reduce the need for strong painkillers.

If something has not gone as it should, our complaints policy explains how to tell us and what happens next, including for care from consultants who work here under practising privileges. Our page on aftercare after cosmetic surgery explains the support you have once you go home.

6. Do we record breast implants on the national registry?

Yes. In England, breast implant operations, NHS or private, are expected to be recorded on the Breast and Cosmetic Implant Registry ↗, run by NHS England. With your consent, we send the details of your operation and your implants to the registry, so that you can be traced and contacted if a safety concern about a particular implant ever comes to light.

You also receive an implant card recording the make, model and size of your implants. Keep it safe: any surgeon who treats you in future will need it. Our guide to breast implant types explains the choices and what is known about their safety.

7. How can you check a surgeon or hospital yourself?

You do not have to take our word for any of this. Before cosmetic surgery anywhere, you can:

• Check the surgeon on the GMC register. Search the GMC medical register ↗ by name or GMC number. The entry shows whether the doctor holds a licence to practise and, if they are on the Specialist Register, in which specialty. Our surgeon profiles give each surgeon’s qualifications and registration.
• Check the hospital with the CQC. Make sure it is registered for surgical procedures at the address where you will be treated, and read its rating and latest report. Our CQC rating page sets out our 2023 inspection in full, including what the inspectors asked us to improve under Well-led, and links to our profile on the CQC website ↗.
• Ask at your consultation. Ask who will operate, who gives the anaesthetic, what aftercare is included and what happens if a revision is needed. Our guide to choosing a plastic surgeon lists the questions worth asking.