Consultations & insurance

Recording the correct consultation notes for each procedure is vital – both for client safety and to guard against potential claims. Insurance specialist Rosie Barrington explains why

Asa qualified professional, it is vitally important you ensure that all treatments are carried out in accordance with your training and manufacturer’s instructions and your insurer’s policy conditions.

All policies have different conditions relating to treatments so these should be read and understood, ideally before you purchase your insurance policy. If a treatment is carried out and a policy condition has not been adhered to then the insurer may refuse to pay your claim.

You should carry out a full consultation with your client before a treatment and record this on a consultation card. The following should be recorded as a minimum during your client’s consultation:

• Your client’s medical history

• Patch test and result if applicable

• The treatment being performed, and products used during the treatment

• Whether aftercare instructions were provided.

All this information would be used to defend you if there was a claim made against you. If you have carried out a full consultation with your client and checked if they have any allergies or any medical history that would prevent them from having the treatment, then this would assist with dealing with the claim on your behalf.

Keeping evidence

Evidence of this information can be used to help defend a claim. For example, if your client has an allergy to a certain product and you carried out a full consultation, you would then be able to check the products used on your client to prevent your client having an allergy to the treatment.

Sometimes, people have no underlying conditions that they advise you of and they still have a reaction to a treatment. In these cases, the record card would prove you did everything you could to prevent this from occurring and could mean the settlement paid to the injured party is significantly reduced or thrown out entirely.

We often see insurance claims for allergic reactions, burns and grazes with settlements averaging at around £10,000 and, in some cases, as much as £40,000. This is why it is so important to have liability insurance for the treatments you do and to make sure you follow the policy terms and conditions to ensure the cover responds when you need it the most.

Non-injury claims

Most insurance policies only cover claims where there is bodily injury or damage to customer property, at Professional Beauty Direct, we have an additional cover for non-injury treatment extension, which is a level of cover for dissatisfaction with the outcome of the treatment. For example, if you carried out a semi-permanent make-up treatment and the lip line was not in the correct place, your client may still decide to make a claim against you as there is a problem with the treatment but no actual bodily injury.

In a recent claim, a client underwent eyebrow tattooing but the therapist failed to follow the stencils adequately, resulting in uneven eyebrows. Although there was no injury, the brows were different shapes to one another and at different heights. The client suffered panic attacks and stress as a result of the poorly performed treatment and was awarded £2,250 in settlement.

Rosie Barrington is manager at Professional Beauty Direct, which provides insurance policies covering public, products ,and treatment liability from as little as £39.50 per year. 0345 605 8670 / professionalbeauty.co.uk/insurance