Clinical Outcomes and Patient Safety 2025/26

Never events and reportable incidents

• 0 never events
• 1 incident reported to the CQC
• 0 medicines incidents reported to the Home Office
• 0 reports to any other statutory body
• 13 incidents and accidents logged

What these mean. Never events are the short list of serious incidents NHS England considers wholly preventable when safety procedures are followed, such as wrong-site surgery or a retained instrument. The correct number is zero, and ours is. The one CQC-notifiable incident was reported within the required timescale, investigated, and the learning built into our procedures; we do not publish clinical detail because it could identify the patient, and the CQC holds the full record. The 13 incidents and accidents are deliberately the broadest category, from a member of staff slipping in a corridor to a near-miss caught by a pre-operative checklist. We would rather have a culture that logs a trip on a step than one that records only what cannot be avoided.

Surgical revision rate

How we count it. Any further operation to improve the outcome of a procedure performed here, whether the patient or the surgeon asked for it and whether or not a fee was charged, counted in the year it takes place.

Why the definition matters. A clinic that counts only paid revisions, only those within twelve months, or only those it considers medically necessary will report a lower figure than one that counts them all. We count them all. Read more about what to expect from revision cosmetic surgery, or our guide to avoiding a poor surgical outcome.

Post-operative infection rate

How we count it. Any wound or surgical site infection that needed treatment — oral antibiotics, intravenous antibiotics, drainage or a further procedure — identified at any point in follow-up, whether by our team or by the patient’s GP. Minor infections treated with tablets are included, because they are the ones most often left out of published figures.

Context. Hospital-wide infection rates include emergency surgery and long inpatient stays, so they are not a fair benchmark for planned day-case surgery. Aesthetic-surgery databases are: infection affected 0.2% of 4,978 rhinoplasty patients^[1] and 1.7% of 2,294 arm lift patients^[2], which is why we would rather show you the figure for your own operation than a blended average. Our guide to the risks and complications of cosmetic surgery explains what to watch for after you go home.

Unplanned return to theatre

How we count it. Any patient taken back to theatre for a reason that was not part of the original plan — most often to drain a haematoma, a collection of blood under the skin. A planned second stage is not counted here, and a later operation to refine the result is counted as a revision instead.

Why it matters. It is one of the most widely used markers of surgical quality because it is hard to hide. Risk rises when operations are combined: in one large study, major complications after arm lift surgery rose from 1.3% on its own to 4.4% when combined with other procedures (Aesthetic Surgery Journal, 2016)^[2]. That is one reason we plan combinations such as a mummy makeover conservatively, and sometimes advise staging them.

Complaints and minor issues

How we count it. A formal complaint is any concern a patient asks us to handle under our complaints policy. We received nine in 2025/26 and responded to all nine within our published timescale. Separately, 37 minor issues were raised and resolved informally at the time. Each one is logged and reviewed, because small issues show where a process needs fixing.

If you are not satisfied with our response. Our policy sets out three stages: local resolution, internal appeal, then external escalation. You can raise concerns with the Care Quality Commission, which regulates us, or with the General Medical Council where a complaint concerns an individual doctor. You can also seek free guidance from Citizens Advice, or take your own legal advice. Centre for Surgery is not an ISCAS subscriber, a voluntary scheme that providers pay to join, so that route is not open to our patients; the CQC and GMC routes are open to everyone.