Archived: Show your Bump

Show Your Bump is operated by Mrs Wendy Ann Williams.

The service provides pregnancy keepsake scans to self-paying members of the public. These are trans abdominal scans, including 2D, 3D and 4D baby keepsake scans and gender scans. The clinic does not provide diagnostic scans.

The service is based in Wigan and in addition to the manager it employs one full time sonographer; one full time receptionist and three part time receptionists.

The clinic has a waiting room and reception area; a scanning room; a small private room for women to use if required; a toilet; and a small kitchen area. Souvenir items such as teddies and keyrings were displayed in the reception area.

We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out the unannounced inspection on 1 May 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.

The main service provided by Show Your Bump was baby keepsake scanning.

Services we rate

We rated this service as Requires improvement overall because:

• Staff did not complete mandatory training appropriate for their roles.

• Staff did not always understood how to protect patients from abuse but they knew how to contact other agencies to raise any safeguarding issues.

• The service did not have suitable premises or use appropriate control measures to manage the risk of infection.

• The provider did not have clear operational policies for the service in place, or a system to ensure these were followed by all staff.

• The service did not have systems to identify risks, or plans to eliminate or reduce them.

• Leaders were not always aware of the risks, issues and challenges within the service and during inspection we identified risks which had not been previously recognised. This included risks in infection prevention and control, consent and in safeguarding systems.

• There was no process to review key items and a strategy, values or governance framework was not identified.

However;

• Equipment was maintained in accordance with manufacturers’ guidance.

• Staff kept appropriate records for service users and stored these securely.

• Staff treated service users with dignity and respect and involved service users and those close to them in decisions about their care.

• The service engaged with customers and staff and took action to improve the service provided.

• The manager promoted a positive culture that supported and valued staff.

Following this inspection, we told the provider that it must take some actions to comply with the regulations and that it should make other improvements, even though a regulation had not been breached, to help the service improve. We also issued the provider with seven requirement notices for the service. Details are at the end of the report.

Name of signatory

Ellen Armistead

Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals (Hospitals North)