Archived: CS Partners Medical Ltd - The Baby Scan Studio Colchester

CS Partners Medical Ltd The Baby Scan Studio Colchester is operated by CS Partners Medical Limited. The service provides diagnostic pregnancy ultrasound, gynaecological and fertility scans.

The service offers non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPTs) to self-funding women predominantly across Essex. NIPTs can be used to assess if a woman’s foetus is at a higher risk of having certain genetic and chromosomal conditions, using a venous blood sample taken from the pregnant woman. It is referred to as non-invasive because it does not involve the insertion of a needle into the woman’s abdomen or cervix, as is the case with more invasive testing, where cells are taken from the amniotic sac or placenta.

The registered manager also runs an ultrasound clinic in Marlow and another clinic at an independent hospital in Oxford. They work alongside a consultant to provide consultations and ultrasound scanning. The equipment is maintained by CS Partners Medical Limited.

The Marlow clinic (The Baby Scan Studio) provides diagnostic imaging for patients aged 18 years and over. It is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to provide the regulated activity of diagnostic and screening procedures. It has one ultrasound machine with one waiting area.

We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out the announced part of the inspection on 21 November 2019. We gave staff four working days’ notice that we were coming to inspect, to ensure the availability of the registered manager and clinics.

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.

Services we rate

We have not previously rated this service. At this inspection we rated it as Good overall.

• The service had enough staff to care for patients and keep them safe. Staff had training in key skills, understood how to protect patients from abuse, and managed safety well. The service controlled infection risk well. Staff assessed risks to patients, acted on them and kept good records.

• Staff provided good care and treatment. Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent. Staff worked well together for the benefit of patients.

• Staff were caring, compassionate, kind and engaged well with patients and their families.

• Patients could access services and appointments in a way and a time that suited them.

• The manager promoted a positive culture that supported and valued staff. Staff reported their team worked well together and staff trusted and respected each other.

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

• The door at the back of the scanning room which gave access to a communal corridor to the staff kitchen and the toilets, was left unlocked when a patient was being scanned. This meant that the patient’s privacy and dignity might not have been maintained at all times.

• The twice yearly team meetings were not formally minuted and therefore there was no evidence if actions were being followed up.

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

Heidi Smoult

Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals - Central region