Eastbourne Imaging Centre is operated by InHealth Limited. The unit provides magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) services on an outpatient basis to children, young people and adults. Facilities include two MRI scanners and their associated control rooms, changing rooms, a disabled toilet, a waiting room and a general anaesthetic bay.
We inspected the service under our independent single speciality diagnostic imaging framework, using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out an unannounced inspection on 9 April 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.
Services we rate
We rated it as Good overall.
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The service provided mandatory training in key skills to all staff and overall staff were compliant with most of their training.
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Staff understood their responsibilities to raise concerns, record incidents and report them.
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Equipment was regularly serviced, cleaned and staff conducted daily quality assurance checks.
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The service managed patient safety incidents well. Staff recognised incidents and reported them for investigations. Learning from incidents was shared within the team and across the organisation to improve the service.
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Staff understood their responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. They knew how to support patients who lacked capacity to make decisions and their care. Consent was recorded in line with national guidance.
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Policies and procedures were up to date and reflected best practice and national guidance.
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Patients received care from all relevant professionals. The service’s staff worked closely with the host trust staff to provide good care in a timely way.
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Staff involved patients and those close to them in decisions about their care.
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Patients could access the service when they needed it. Appointments were flexible to meet the needs of patients who were working or had other responsibilities.
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The service had effective systems for identifying and managing risks.
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The views and experience of patients and staff were gathered and acted on to improve the service and culture.
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Senior leaders and staff strived for continuous learning, service improvement and innovation.
We saw areas of outstanding practice including:
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The service provided emotional support to children in a range of ways including MRI leaflets adapted for children, giving children teddy bears before undergoing general anaesthetic, the use of cartoon characters on the ceiling as a distraction technique and awarding children with bravery certificates for successfully undergoing an MRI scan.
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There was an activity box containing children’s books, sudoku, toys and items for colouring while they waited.
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The service ran a fortnightly general anaesthetic clinic for children. However, staff first attempted to scan babies without general anaesthetic by using the feed and wrap technique.
However, we also found the following issues that the service needs to improve:
Dr. Nigel Acheson
Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals