InHealth Community Diagnostic Centre - Hornchurch

InHealth Hornchurch is operated by InHealth. The service provides magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) diagnostic facilities for adults and young people over the age of 16 years. At the time of inspection all patients attending the centre were NHS funded patients.

We inspected MRI diagnostic facilities.

We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out the unannounced inspection on 28 November 2018.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we ask the same five questions of all services: are they safe, effective, caring, responsive to people's needs, and well-led. Where we have a legal duty to do so we rate services’ performance against each key question as outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate.

Throughout the inspection, we took account of what people told us and how the provider understood and complied with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA).

The main service provided by this centre was MRI.

Services we rate

This was the first inspection of this service. We rated it as Good overall.

We found good practice in relation to diagnostic imaging:

• There were effective systems to keep people protected from avoidable harm.

• There were sufficient numbers of staff with the necessary skills, experience and qualifications to meet patients’ needs.

• There was a programme of mandatory training which all staff completed, and systems for checking staff competencies.

• Equipment was maintained and serviced appropriately and the environment was visibly clean.

• Staff were trained and understood what to do if a safeguarding issue was identified.

• Records were up to date and complete and kept protected from unauthorised access.

• Incidents were reported, investigated and learning was implemented.

• The service used evidence based processes and best practice, this followed recognised protocols. The referral to scan times and scan to reporting times were appropriate and well within expected ranges.

• Staff were competent in their field and kept up to date with their professional practice.

• Staff demonstrated a kind and caring approach to their patients and supported their emotional needs.

• Appointments were available during the evening, at weekends and at short notice if required.

• Complaints from patients were taken seriously and acted upon.

• The service had supportive and competent managers. Staff understood and were invested in the vision and values of the organisation. The culture was positive and staff demonstrated pride in the work and the service provided.

• Risks were identified, assessed and mitigated. Performance was monitored and performance information was used to make improvements.

However, we also found the following issues the service provider needs to improve:

• Cleaning materials were not stored in accordance with the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH). In mitigation the COSHH store cupboard was locked by the registered manager at the time of inspection and staff were informed that the cupboard must be locked when not in use.

• A first aid box had out of date dressings. The first aid box did not have a record sheet with the date, name, signature and role of the person checking the contents.

• Patients were triaged via the central InHealth patient referral centre (PRC), However, staff did not know if there was a localised protocol for referrals from non-medical referrers.

• Staff had not undertaken training on the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and associated guidance. The provider had purchased a training package and work was in progress to roll this training out to staff.

Following this inspection, we told the provider that it should make other improvements, even though a regulation had not been breached, to help the service improve. These can be found at the end of the report.

Nigel Acheson

Deputy Chief inspector of Hospitals (London and the South)