National Unplanned Pregnancy Advisory Service Stoke

Ratings

• Overall

  Good

• Safe

  Good

• Effective

  Good

• Caring

  Good

• Responsive

  Good

• Well-led

  Good

Our view of the service

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.