Hey Baby 4D Northampton

On this page

• Overview
• Person-centred Care
• Care provision, Integration and continuity
• Providing Information
• Listening to and involving people
• Equity in access
• Equity in experiences and outcomes
• Planning for the future

The service planned care using a person-centred, needs-based approach to ensure people had the best possible pregnancy experience. Staff took account of people’ individual and diverse needs and adapted policies, training, and the service to meet changes, trends, and increases in demand. The service made it easy for people to give feedback and staff acted on this. People could access the service flexibly and the team demonstrated consistent reliability in day-to-day operations. Staff had established close working links with NHS pregnancy services, including for urgent needs, and with third party services that provided holistic care. Staff implemented a range of approaches to ensure equitable access and outcomes.

This service scored 86 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

Person-centred care was demonstrably embedded in every aspect of the service. Each member of staff we spoke with embodied the service’s mission to deliver care that met individual needs in recognition of the importance of a good pregnancy experience.

The scan booking form included questions about anxiety and depression. This helped staff identify potential risks relating to mental health or safeguarding and adjust their approach to care accordingly.

Dignity and respect were core aspects of the service. This was embedded in practice and policies and reflected in audits. For example, staff asked people their preferred pronouns in advance of appointments so they could be addressed respectfully. Where people were pregnant with twins, the sonographer asked how they should refer to each foetus, such as alphabetically or numerically. Auditors assessed sonographers in how they treated people with dignity and respect during monthly peer review audits. Results were consistently good and showed 100% compliance with expected standards in the previous 12 months.

Staff completed training to help them adapt and deliver care in line with diverse individual neds. This included training in autism awareness, communicating with people living with disabilities, mental health crisis, and awareness of the care needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and other (LGBTQ+) people. Such work expanded accessibility and responsiveness of the service because they meant a wider range of people could be safely and effectively cared for.

Staff adapted the service to meet trends and changes in demand. For example, following an increase in people disclosing neurodiversity needs, the service offered adaptations to the environment and scan appointments to improve comfort. Printed information met the Accessible Information Standards

Staff had established a working relationship with local NHS emergency care and midwifery services. A significant development in service provision, it meant sonographers could refer women to the NHS trust where they found urgent concerns, such as an ectopic pregnancy. The agreement meant the sonographer received follow up from the NHS service with details of the person’s care and prognosis, which they used as learning.

Staff coordinated schedules to make sure scans did not take place too close together and worked with people requesting multiple scans by addressing their concerns. Managers incorporated NHS agreements into their governance framework to monitor effectiveness.

Staff provided non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT). NIPT is a form of screening that can detect early risks of conditions such as Down syndrome by analysing foetal DNA circulating in the mother’s blood. Sonographers took a blood sample and staff sent this by secure medical courier to a laboratory for testing. The laboratory was responsible for providing results, onward referrals, and genetic counselling if needed.

All staff were trained to provide information on different types of scans and give guidance on options for ongoing care and reassurance. During our site assessment we observed the receptionist skilfully discuss the scanning process with someone who was anxious. The member of staff provided reassurance and explained the different stages of the planned scan, with the reason for each. This reflected the high standard of training and competencies amongst the whole team.

Sonographers provided each person with a copy of their images and report. The report was a basic narrative of what could be seen in the image and did not provide a diagnosis or treatment recommendation. Reports were for reassurance purposes only and sonographers made it clear to people they did not replace the maternity care provided by NHS services. Where they referred the person to an NHS service, they provided a copy of the referral to them and forwarded this to the person’s GP if they had consent to do so.

The provider displayed a ‘what you can expect from us’ notice in the waiting area. This helped establish person’s expectations and detailed the pledge of service in which staff worked. This included assurance of staff qualifications and competencies, data privacy, and how the service ensured it was safe and effective.

Sonographers provided people with details of maternity pathway scans they would receive during NHS care and how this worked alongside elective scans. The local NHS trust had provided the service with this information to enable people to access consistent guidance.

The provider had a formal complaints policy and staff displayed details about this in the clinic and on the website. Staff were clearly focused on supporting a happy, positive pregnancy journey. They considered any dissatisfaction with their service to have potential to impact a person’s whole pregnancy and so focused on immediate resolution and learning.

The service received 14 complaints in the previous 12 months. Managers monitored complaints for themes and trends. Of the 14 complaints, 2 came from people who felt their scans had been rushed. Staff looked at the time stamps for each image taken, as well as the person’s arrival and departure time. They found the appointments had taken place within the planned timeframe. As learning, they made sure people were aware of appointment length at the time of consent. All other complaints were independent of each other and managers reviewed each from the service and person point of view to understand what went wrong.

Staff encouraged people to be open and honest about their medical history, previous pregnancy experiences, and their concerns. This helped sonographers identify potential risks and provide signposting for more specialised support.

All areas of the clinic were accessible, step-free and there was a dedicated on-site car park for people.

Staff completed training in providing care for autistic people, people with learning disabilities, and mental health conditions. This included communication techniques and helped staff to understand how such conditions could impact a person’s pregnancy experience.

People could book same-day scans if appointments were available. The service incorporated buffers into the daily schedule to accommodate women who received upsetting news or needed an urgent referral. Staff provided flexible access to scans. For example, on the day of our site assessment, a person called the clinic noting they had fallen over the day before and wanted a reassurance scan after their NHS urgent care centre had cleared them of immediate harm. Staff arranged this at short notice with the most appropriate form of scan to get reassurance for the person and made sure the person knew the service could not provide a clinical diagnosis.

Staff used a live online language translation service for people who did not speak English. In such cases the provider also required a chaperone to accompany the person during their scan. Staff recognised the safeguarding risks associated with a person bringing a friend or relative to translate for them. To ensure they took reasonable steps against coercion or trafficking, staff required the person to individually give consent using the independent translation tool. Staff had not yet been asked for British Sign Language interpretation but had a digital system in place to facilitate this, which involved the use of a video chat platform.

The clinic had play facilities for young children and staff supervised them if they accompanied a person attending for a scan. Play facilities were in the scan room and in direct sight of the person being scanned. This was risk assessed, carried out with parental consent, and with 1-to-1 staff supervision by individuals with an enhanced Disclosure Barring Service (DBS) check.

Staff audited person’s records on a rolling basis to check consistency in consent and the completion of personal details such as age, GP information, and the mental capacity reasoning process. The audit included a check that the images matched the scanning protocol, included a referral if needed, and that image annotations were of appropriate detail. This audit provided assurance people had equitable experiences and outcomes through consistent standards of practice and care.

Sonographers worked with each person to ensure they achieved the best scan images possible. If the baby was not in a suitable position to be effectively scanned, the sonographer provided support to try and encourage it to move, such as by walking around, drinking water, or using a large gym ball to bounce.

Results from clinical procedure reviews demonstrated the personalised, persistent approach of sonographers to meet each person’s expectations and needs. For example, sonographers documented the reactions of the person being scanned and those accompanying them. In a recent audit the sonographer documented that the person was “…very, very happy,” and noted “Dad is also very happy!” Audits noted sonographers documented issues such as gestational diabetes and captured their compassionate approach such as their level of support and enthusiasm with each person.

The service provided reassurance services for people during specific stages of their pregnancy. While staff did not provide ongoing or long-term support post-pregnancy, sonographers signposted people to other support services that could meet their personal needs. Many people stayed in touch with the service and provided staff with photos of their newborn children, which reflected the personal and individualised approach of the team.