Archived: Bradley Street

Updated 18 August 2023

Bradley Street is operated by Gerexa Limited. The clinic provides a range of pregnancy scans to self-referred, privately funded women who are 18 years or older. Scans were available in 2D, 3D and 4D, including early reassurance scans which were available from 7 weeks, genders scans available from 14 weeks and baby bonding scans available from 24 weeks. The service provides keepsake pictures to people who used the service as well as keepsakes such as heartbeat bears, gender reveal balloons and cannons. The clinic is based in Manchester city centre in the Northern Quarter. The clinic employs a registered manager who acts as the governance lead, a clinical manager who is also an ultrasound technician, another ultrasound technician and two receptionists.

We previously inspected Bradley Street in February 2019 and rated it Requires Improvement with breaches in Health & Social Care Act (HSCA) (RA) Regulations 2014. These included, Regulation 13 Safeguarding service users from abuse and improper treatment and Regulation 18 Staffing and Regulation 17 HSCA Good governance.

For more details, please refer to the previous report about this service in February 2019.

Updated 18 August 2023

We rated it as requires improvement because:

• The service did not always control infection risk well.
• The provider did not monitor or have oversight of when ultrasound machines had last been serviced. The service did not always ensure specialist equipment was maintained.
• The service did not always check to make sure policies were regularly reviewed.
• The service did not always have policies accessible for staff.
• The service did not always have access to policies, women's and staff records. Records were often stored off site. There was not a robust process for the safe storage, retention, and disposal of records.
• The complaints did not reference any external independent complaints service body for customers to access should they be unhappy with the providers response.

However:

• Leaders supported staff to develop their skills. Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent.
• The service assessed risks to women and acted on them.
• Staff provided adequate care and treatment. Staff treated women with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity and took account of their individual needs. They provided emotional support to women, families and carers.
• The service planned care to meet the needs of local people, took account of women's individual needs. The service engaged well with women and the community. Staff were committed to improving services.

Updated 18 August 2023