Ashford and St Peters MRI

Updated 27 March 2019

Ashford and St Peters MRI is operated by Alliance Medical Limited who took over the service in August 2006 and provided diagnostic healthcare services in Chertsey. The diagnostic service delivered magnetic resonance imaging. The service primarily serves the communities of the Ashford and Chertsey area. It also accepts patient referrals from outside this area.

The provider is registered for the following activities:

• Diagnostic and screening procedures

The service has had a registered manager in post since 2016. We last inspected this location in March 2013. Our inspection found the provider compliant with the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010.

Updated 27 March 2019

Ashford and St Peters MRI is operated by Alliance Medical Limited who took over the service in August 2006. The service registered with Care Quality Commission in 2010. Alliance Medical Limited has a lease of building agreement with a co-located hospital until April 2029 providing Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans. An MRI is a type of scan that uses magnets and radio waves to produce detailed images of the inside of the body. MRI services are provided to self-funded and NHS patients within the setting of a co-located hospital in Chertsey. The service also had a contract in place to scan patients from other co-located hospitals.

The service specialises in neuroradiology, orthopaedics, neonatal and cardiology. The service provides scans to the co-located hospital accident and emergency departments, outpatient department and in-patient services.

The service also delivers two specialist cardiac MRI clinics. Cardiologists from the trust supervise cardiac stress scans with a specialist gynaecology MRI clinic once a week. The unit manages diaries to accommodate in-patients daily.

The service currently has one scanner with a weight limit of 150kg. However, the organisation has secured a contract extension with the trust, under which two new scanners will be installed and operational by April 2019. The two new scanners will replace the current scanner at the unit to meet the demand for MRI diagnostic scans within the area. The two new scanners will be a 1.5 Tesla and 3 Tesla machines.

The MRI unit operates between 8am to 8pm, seven days a week supported by experienced staff, working in accordance with staffing guidelines.

We last inspected this location in March 2013. Our inspection found the provider compliant with the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010.

We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out the unannounced inspection on 11 January 2019.

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.

Updated 27 March 2019

• The service provided safe scanning pathway to patients. There were sufficient numbers of staff to meet the needs of the service and we found risks related to infection was well controlled.

• Policies and procedures reflected best practice and national guidance.

• Patients were cared for by kind professional staff. Patients’ feedback was consistently positive and proactively sought to improve the service.

• Information on service fees was freely available to patients.

• The service delivered, took account of the needs of the local community. Patients’ individual needs and preferences were central to the planning and delivery of services.

• The services were tailored to meet the needs of individual people and were delivered in a way to ensure flexibility, choice and continuity of care.

• The service was flexible, provided choice and ensured continuity of care by ensuring reports were available within twenty-four hours, or immediately in the event of a finding requiring urgent treatment. 

• We found effective risk management and governance systems. These took account of, and provided oversight of the risks and quality of services.

• There was a clear leadership structure and team that provided good support for staff.

• The culture of the service was cohesive, proactive and held patients at the centre of the service. Staff felt valued by the leadership team, and were proud to work in the service.