Hey Baby 4D Northampton

Ratings - Diagnostic imaging

• Overall

  Outstanding

• Safe

  Good

• Effective

  Not rated

• Caring

  Outstanding

• Responsive

  Good

• Well-led

  Good

Our view of the service

Hey Baby 4D Northampton is operated by Hey Baby 4D Limited, as part of a national franchise of independently owned and operated baby scanning clinics. The leadership team for this location manage another service in Derby.

The service offers 4D baby scans, early reassurance scans, late reassurance scans, gender scans, and non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT). NIPT is a blood test that analyses foetal deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) circulating in the mother’s blood to assess the risk of some conditions such as Down syndrome. All scans are elective, self-pay, and non-diagnostic. Private scans are separate to any NHS antenatal care.

We carried out a site visit assessment of the service on 16 December 2024. We gave the provider 24 hours’ notice of the inspection as we needed to ensure the service would be open and operational. Our assessment team included a lead inspector and a radiographer specialist advisor. We last inspected the service on 21 July 2023 and rated it good overall. We assessed this service using our new single assessment framework methodology.

The service operates on a pre-booked basis with appointments available 6 days per week.

People's experience of this service

During our site visit we spoke with people undergoing scans and those accompanying them, such as partners and relatives. Everyone we spoke with described positive experiences with the service. They spoke particularly highly of the caring, attentive staff, and said the sonographer made them feel at ease during scans. The service had dozens of letters, e-mails, and cards thanking staff for their care and kindness, including when staff had to deliver bad news.