Patients and staff at a national cosmetic surgery which has collapsed into liquidation have been provided with advice on what to do next.

Sk:n, which has a branch on East Street in Southampton, suddenly closed on Thursday, July 18.

Sk:n has more than 70 branches and the sudden collapse of the company has come as a surprise to both staff and patients.

One member of staff told the Echo they would not receive any wages for July.

An anonymous employee said: “Myself and my colleagues have been shocked to hear Sk:n is to close with immediate effect.

“We have been told we won’t receive our wages for July and that is all we have been told.

“Our clients are being left in the dark as are we.

“We had lots of clients and patients from around Southampton as well as a clinic in Portsmouth too.

“The whole company over 800 jobs have been lost. It’s so shocking.”

On Friday, the Insolvency Service issued the following advice to staff members and patients of Sk:n.

READ MORE: Man in hospital after being punched outside the Arrow pub in Eastleigh

It revealed that winding-up orders were made against five companies from the Sk:n group.

This means a court granted a request to close the businesses from creditors which were owed money.

The release from the Insolvency Service reads: “The Official Receiver’s priority is to wind-down the companies in accordance with his statutory duties, for the benefit of the companies’ creditors. He also has a duty to inquire into the conduct of current and former directors.

"If you are a patient and your operation has been cancelled, you should contact the medical practitioner that referred you.

“Cosmetic procedures are not generally provided by the NHS.

“If you are a customer or patient who has paid for treatment under a credit agreement you should contact your finance company.”

Staff members can apply to the Insolvency Service for redundancy and other payments provided they live in England, Scotland or Wales.

The Insolvency Service notice continued: “On average it takes 12 days to process and pay claims.

“However, sometimes we need to get additional information which can take a bit of time. We will contact you directly if we need anything further from you.

“We always try to pay eligible claims within six weeks of receiving the application.

“To allow us to deal with everyone’s application as quickly as possible, please do not contact us to check the status of your application until after the six weeks have passed.”