The Care Quality Commission
  • Hospital
  • Independent hospital

National Unplanned Pregnancy Advisory Service Stoke

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Wharf Street, Newcastle Under Lyme, Staffordshire, ST5 1JZ 0333 004 6666

Provided and run by:
National Unplanned Pregnancy Advisory Service Limited

All Inspections

During an assessment of Termination of pregnancy

The National Unplanned Pregnancy Advisory Service Stoke (NUPAS) opened in 2004 and began offering early medical terminations in 2009. The service provides termination advice and treatment, which includes early medical terminations up to 63 days, surgical termination up to 13 weeks and 6 days, contraception and pregnancy testing. An early medical termination involves taking medication to end a pregnancy; it doesn’t require surgery or anaesthesia and is more commonly known as the abortion pill. It involves taking two different types of pills at two different times. Women and girls who require a termination of pregnancy who are over 13 weeks and 6 days are referred to another clinic.

We carried out the announced inspection on 24 March 2026 and gave the service 24 hours’ notice that we would visit. An unannounced (the service did not know we were going) inspection was undertaken to the Wolverhampton clinic on 30 March 2026. We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We have inspected this service 4 times, in 2012, 2013, 2017 and 2019. We inspected the service as it had not been inspected since 2019 and as such had an aged rating.

The service was rated good following our last inspection.

The service had a good learning culture, and people could raise concerns. Managers investigated incidents thoroughly. Clinics were clean well maintained and fit for purpose. Staff assessed and managed risks to women and girls and themselves well. Staff understood how to protect women and girls from abuse. There were enough staff with the right skills, qualifications and experience. Managers made sure staff received training and regular appraisals to maintain high-quality care. Staff managed medicines well.

Staff assessed, planned, delivered and reviewed women and girls’ needs in line with legislation and current evidence-based good practice. Staff worked together and with others appropriately to provide continuity of care.

Staff cared for women and girls and each other in a way that met their expectations and fully respected their privacy and dignity. The culture of kindness and respect extended to colleagues as they were treated in the same manner.

Women and girls were at the centre of their care and treatment choices. Services were tailored to meet women and girls' needs in a way that ensured choice, timely and equitable access without discrimination and continuity of care. There were appropriate systems in place to enable women and girls to share feedback or raise complaints about their care and treatment. Staff made reasonable adjustments where required and listened to women and girls’ concerns to improve the service.

Managers and leaders were caring and compassionate and had the skills and abilities to run the service. Managers promoted a positive and supportive culture and valued staff. The service had a vision and strategy for what it wanted to achieve and appropriate plans to achieve it. Staff felt respected, supported and valued and were focused on the needs of receiving care. There were appropriate systems to manage performance. Risks were identified and escalated, and actions were in place to reduce their impact. There was a culture of continuous improvement.

During an assessment of the hospital overall

The National Unplanned Pregnancy Advisory Service (NUPAS) Stoke is operated by National Unplanned Pregnancy Advisory Service Limited. The service provides medical and surgical termination of pregnancies, contraception (including reversible long-acting contraception) and pre and post termination counselling.

Women and girls could receive treatment for a medical termination up to 9 weeks and 6 days, or a surgical termination up to 13 weeks and 6 days. At the time of inspection, the service used local anaesthetic for surgical terminations.

The service is run from single story building at Newcastle Under Lyme, mostly 3 days a week, on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. The service does have surgical lists twice a month on a Friday and had appointments for pre-surgery assessment on some Wednesdays. The service has 3 satellite clinics in Wolverhampton, Cannock and Burton on Trent. Across all clinics the service is available 6 days a week.

We carried out the announced inspection on 24 March 2026 and gave the service 24 hours notice we would visit. An unannounced inspection was undertaken to the Wolverhampton clinic on 30 March 2026. We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We inspected the service as it had not been inspected since 2019 and as such had an aged rating.

In the 12 months prior to inspection, the service completed 2,764 terminations of those, 160 were surgical and 2604 were medical terminations.

The service has a registered manager who had been in post for 13 years.

The service is registered to provide the following regulated activities:

  • Termination of Pregnancy.
  • Family Planning Service.
  • Treatment of Disease, Disorder or Injury.
  • Diagnostic Imaging Services.
  • Surgical procedures. (July 2024)
  • Transport services, triage and medical advice provided remotely

Under these activities the service provided:

  • Pregnancy Testing.
  • Unplanned Pregnancy Counselling.
  • Early Medical termination of pregnancy.
  • Surgical termination of pregnancy
  • Termination Aftercare.
  • Contraceptive advice and supply.

The service had a good learning culture, and people could raise concerns. Women and girls areas were clean well equipped and well-maintained. Staff assessed and managed risks to women and girls and themselves well. Staff understood how to protect women and girls from abuse. There were enough staff with the right skills, qualifications and experience. Staff managed medicines well.

Staff assessed, planned, delivered and reviewed women and girls’ needs in line with legislation and current evidence-based good practice. Staff worked together and with others appropriately to provide continuity of care.

Staff cared for women and girls and each other in a way that met their expectations and fully respected their privacy and dignity. The culture of kindness and respect extended to colleagues as they were treated in the same manner.

Women and girls were at the centre of their care and treatment choices. Services were tailored to meet women and girls' needs in a way that ensured choice, timely and equitable access without discrimination and continuity of care. There were appropriate systems in place to enable women and girls to share feedback or raise complaints about their care and treatment. Staff made reasonable adjustments where required and listened to peoples’ concerns to improve the service.

Managers and leaders were caring and compassionate and had the skills and abilities to run the service. Managers promoted a positive and supportive culture and valued staff. The service had a vision and strategy for what it wanted to achieve and appropriate plans to achieve it. Staff felt respected, supported and valued and were focused on the needs of women and girls and girls receiving care. There were appropriate systems to manage performance. Risks were identified and escalated, and actions were in place to reduce their impact. There was a culture of continuous improvement.

During the onsite assessment of National Unplanned Pregnancy Advisory Service (NUPAS) Stoke. We spoke with 11 staff including managers,12 women and girls and their loved ones/supporters and we observed 4 patient consultations.

During our inspection, we reviewed 9 records of women and girls who had been seen and treated.

Although we refer to women and girls our findings also relate to some transgender men and boys and non‑binary people.

19 June 2019

During a routine inspection

National Unplanned Pregnancy Advisory Service Stoke is operated by National Unplanned Pregnancy Advisory Service Limited. The service does not have overnight facilities. Facilities at the service include treatment, screening and consultation rooms, a waiting area and offices all which are located on the ground floor.

The service provides early medical abortions up to 63 days, medical abortion advice and treatment, surgical abortion advice, contraception and pregnancy testing. An early medical abortion involves taking medication to end a pregnancy, it doesn’t require surgery or anaesthetic and is more commonly known as the abortion pill. It involves taking two different types of pills at two different times. The service no longer provides manual vacuum aspirations.

We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out the unannounced inspection on 19 June 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.

We found the following areas of good practice:

  • 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 care records. They managed medicines well. The service managed safety incidents well and learned lessons from them. Staff collected safety information and used it to improve the service.
  • Staff provided good care and treatment, gave patients enough to drink, and gave them pain relief when they needed it. Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent. Staff worked well together for the benefit of patients, advised them on how to lead healthier lives, supported them to make decisions about their care, and had access to good information.
  • Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, took account of
  • their individual needs, and helped them understand their conditions. They provided emotional support to patients, families and carers.
  • The service planned care that took account of patients’ individual needs and made it easy for people to give feedback.
  • Leaders ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills. Staff understood the service’s vision and values, and how to apply them in their work. Staff felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on the needs of patients receiving care. Staff were clear about their roles and accountabilities. The service engaged well with patients to plan and manage services and all staff were committed to improving services continually.

However, we also found the following issues that the service provider

  • The service did not always meet their monthly target rates for some waiting times. This was identified by the service as being due to patient choice, bank holidays and a lack of sonographer.

  • Effective systems were not in place to check emergency equipment and consumables were consistently safe for use.

  • The provider did not provide staff with any specific training around patients with a learning disability.

  • Two policies were not up to date as they were under review.

  • The service did not keep an informal log of complaints to learn from them.

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.

Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals

Nigel Acheson

8 June and 15 June 2016

During a routine inspection

National Unplanned Pregnancy Advisory Service Stoke is part of the provider group National Unplanned Pregnancy Advisory Service (previously Fraterdrive).

CQC registered the service in August 2012 as a single specialty termination of pregnancy service providing early medical abortion (EMA) up to a gestation of 63 days (nine weeks) and surgical abortion under local anaesthetic less than 70 days gestation. The service also provides pregnancy testing, unplanned pregnancy counselling and consultation, abortion aftercare, sexually transmitted infection testing, and contraceptive advice and contraception supply.

We carried out this announced comprehensive inspection on 8 and 15 June 2016, as part of the first wave of inspection of services providing a termination of pregnancy service. The inspection was conducted using the Care Quality Commission’s new methodology.

We have not provided ratings for this service. We have not rated this service because we do not currently have a legal duty to rate this type of service or the regulated activities it provides.

Our key findings were as follows:

Is the service safe?

  • There were appropriate arrangements in place to highlight incidents and patient safety concerns. The provider had established systems to ensure that learning from incidents was shared throughout the organisation and staff group. Staff understood the principles of being open with patients when things went wrong.

  • There were reliable systems, processes and practices in place to keep people safeguarded from abuse.

  • Medicines were safely ordered, supplied, and stored in accordance with manufacturers’ instructions, and administered only when they had been prescribed for a named patient.

  • There were sufficient numbers of staff available to care for patients.

  • The service employed medical doctors including surgeons and anaesthetists under practice privileges. We saw that doctors who worked at the treatment unit had provided the relevant documentary evidence to demonstrate they were suitably experienced and qualified to undertake procedures at the treatment unit.

  • There were suitable arrangements in place for staff mandatory training.

  • Records were securely stored, well maintained and completed with clear dates, times and designation of the person documenting.

  • The service used a World Health Organisation (WHO) Safer Surgical Checklist to minimise risks to patients having surgical operations. However, it had not been fully completed in one patient’s records of the seven we looked at.

  • Arrangements were in place to manage emergencies and transfer patients to another health care provider where needed.

Is the service effective?

  • Staff provided care in line with national best practice guidelines.

  • Policies were accessible for all staff, were up to date, and kept under review.

  • The National Unplanned Pregnancy Advisory Service (NUPAS) monitored complication rates, which were within expected ranges at the Stoke clinic.

  • Staff appropriately offered patients pain relief, prophylactic antibiotic treatments and post-abortion contraceptives.

  • There were appropriate arrangements in place to record patients’ written consent including patients who were less than sixteen years old.

Is the service caring?

  • Staff were caring, compassionate, and treated patients with dignity, understanding, and respect.

  • Patients considering termination of pregnancy had access to pre and post termination counselling, with no time limits attached, but were not obliged to use the counselling service.

Is the service responsive?

  • Staff provided patients with the right level of information to help them to make decisions.

  • The NUPAS advice line telephone service was accessible to patients 24 hours a day and seven days a week.

  • The clinic was responsive to patient need and would open for additional sessions if needed.

  • The service provided services at two locations, which made access easier for patients.

  • The service did not provide treatment for patients with complex medical conditions but made referrals for them to be treated elsewhere.

  • There were appropriate systems in place to raise and act upon concerns and complaints within the organisation.

  • An interpreter service was available to enable staff to communicate with patients whose first language was not English.

Is the service well led?

  • There were effective corporate governance arrangements to manage risk and quality. This included an audit programme and an established system to cascade learning.

  • Staff felt supported by their registered manager and senior managers.

  • The culture within the service was caring, non-judgmental and supportive to patients. Staff spoke positively about the need for, and the value of the service provided to patients.

  • The service was active in engaging with staff, patients and the wider public.

  • Staff spoke positively about the high quality care and services they provided for patients and were proud to work for NUPAS.

There were areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

  • The provider should consider systems of working that more fully mitigate the risk of managing an emergency within the small recovery rooms.

  • The provider should ensure that the World Health Organisation (WHO) Safe Surgical Checklist to minimise risks to patients having surgical operations is completed.

Professor Sir Mike Richards

Chief Inspector of Hospitals

24 January 2013

During a routine inspection

We carried out this inspection to check on the care and welfare of people using this service. The inspection was unannounced which meant the provider and the staff did not know we were coming. We carried out this inspection to check on the care and welfare of people using the service.

We saw there was a range of information available about sexual health and terminations. This could be provided in different formats upon request. Interpreting services were available for people during any consultation and prior to any treatment.

People using the service told us the staff were friendly and approachable and spoke to them in a respectful way. They told us they felt the service delivered care in a way that met their needs.

People told us they had discussed the treatment options available to them and felt they were able to make informed choice. Records demonstrated people had consented to any treatment.

The staff had received the necessary checks to ensure they were suitable to work with people who may be considered vulnerable.

12 March 2012

During an inspection in response to concerns

The visit was part of a responsive review programme of locations operated by Fraterdrive Ltd, following concerns raised in relation to record keeping and breaches of the Abortion Act 1967, at another location. We did not speak with people who used the service on this occasion.