For partners
What changes when a doctor works at your salon
In brief
For a salon, less changes than you might think, provided the arrangements are right. Medical responsibility and liability rest entirely with the doctor. You make a space available within agreed hours. What does need arranging: a written agreement, clarity about insurance, separated data flows, and clear communication to your clients.
Who is responsible for what
The doctor is responsible for the indication, the treatment, the record, the materials, the aftercare and the medical waste. Liability for the treatment also rests there, covered by professional indemnity insurance.
The salon is responsible for the space itself: safety, electrics, cleaning of the premises and the usual matters that come with a business property. Nothing changes for your own services.
What belongs in writing
- Which space, on which days and at which times.
- That medical acts are performed solely by the doctor, and that salon staff play no part in them.
- Payment and invoicing.
- Insurance and indemnity.
- How client data stays separated and who processes which data.
- Notice period and what happens on termination.
Have such an agreement reviewed by your own adviser. A partner who objects to that is not the right partner.
Privacy: two separate worlds
A client's medical data belongs to the doctor and falls under medical confidentiality. It does not enter your client system, and you have no need to want access to it.
The other way round, the salon shares no client data with the doctor without the client's own consent. In practice the client books directly with the medical provider; the salon only sees that the room is reserved.
Communicating to your clients
Be clear that this is a medical treatment, performed by a doctor on the BIG register, and that it is a separate service alongside your own treatments. Avoid suggesting that the salon itself offers medical treatments; that is not permitted and it creates the wrong expectations.
Mind the advertising rules as well. No advertising to the public is allowed for a prescription medicine, so no brand names in your window or on social media. Speak of a wrinkle treatment by a doctor.
What it brings you
A reason for clients to come back, without your having to take a medical qualification or buy equipment. Better use of a space that would otherwise stand empty. And a conversation with your client about skin and care that goes further than what you can offer now.
What it does not bring you: a quick earner. The build-up is slow, and that is precisely the intention.
Frequently asked questions
Am I liable as a salon for the treatment?
No. Medical responsibility and liability rest with the treating doctor and are covered by professional indemnity insurance. Do record this in writing in the partnership agreement.
Do I need to adjust my insurance?
Notify your insurer of the partnership, even though medical liability lies elsewhere. Your liability for the premises and its fittings still stands.
May I announce this on social media?
Yes, but without brand names of medicines and without suggesting that the salon itself performs medical treatments. Speak of a wrinkle treatment by a doctor on the BIG register.
Written by Dr Emma van Dijk, doctor at Calla Medical. This article is general information and not legal advice; always have a partnership agreement reviewed by your own adviser.
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