My baby and i scan Ltd

On this page

• Overview
• Assessing needs
• Delivering evidence-based care and treatment
• How staff, teams and services work together
• Supporting people to live healthier lives
• Monitoring and improving outcomes
• Consent to care and treatment

This means we looked for evidence that people’s care, treatment, and support achieved good outcomes and promoted a good quality of life, based on best available evidence.

This is the first assessment for this newly registered service. This key question has been rated Requires Improvement. This meant the effectiveness of people’s care, treatment, and support did not always achieve good outcomes or was inconsistent.

We have not awarded this service a score for Effective.

Find out about when we will not publish a key question score and what we look at when we assess Effective.

The evidence showed some shortfalls. The service did not always make sure people’s care and treatment were effective because they did not always check and discuss people’s health, care, wellbeing, and communication needs with them.

There were no clear processes to demonstrate and review the escalation of concern for women receiving scans, aside from a note on an ultrasound report. However, since the time of inspection, a blank template has been devised for escalating concerns

Parts of the consent form were not in plain English and were not easily understandable by the public. Medical acronyms were used, and the meaning was not explained.

The consent form was available in 3 languages; however, staff were unable to articulate how they would provide any further translation services. However, since the inspection, Google Translate has been identified for use. There was a hearing loop, but it was out of order.

Delivering evidence-based care and treatment

The evidence showed significant shortfalls. The service did not plan and deliver people’s care and treatment with them. They did not follow legislation and current evidence-based good practice and standards

We observed a woman being scanned outside of policy, which states there should be 2 weeks between scans unless there is a documented discussion as to why there has been a deviation. This had not been completed. However, since the time of the inspection, the provider has designed a document to record conversations for clinical reasoning when scanning outside of policy.

The registered manager, when interviewed, stated that patients would not be scanned if patients did not consent to refer to other services when concerns were identified. The consent/waiver form gave patients a choice to opt in or out of consenting to the service to escalate concerns. However, best practice would be for the service representative to contact the early pregnancy unit directly and provide the findings of the scan, and make an appointment for the patient. A failure to do this may delay review and timely actions to ensure patient safety.

Staff had not participated in clinical audit, benchmarking, and quality improvement initiatives. There was no process for peer review of images.

The registered manager had not provided staff with supervision meetings to discuss care management, to reflect on and learn from practice, and for personal support and professional development, or appraisal of their work performance.

The registered manager had not ensured that staff had access to regular team meetings.

The evidence showed significant shortfalls. The service did not work well across teams and services to support people. They did not share their assessment of people’s needs when moving between different services.

There were no processes to hand over or refer concerns to other services, such as early pregnancy assessment units, and escalations were not audited. Staff could not demonstrate they were using a robust process to share information and were using a mobile chat service to communicate with clients about referrals.

The evidence showed some shortfalls. The service did not always support people to manage their health and wellbeing, so people could not always maximise their independence, choice, and control.

Staff had conversations about a client’s scans with their partner without their inclusion. This did not promote their independence, choice, and control. The client was not signposted to other services.

Staff provided a starter pack containing a bottle, vouchers, and information leaflets to clients attending for scans.

The evidence showed significant shortfalls. The service did not routinely monitor people’s care and treatment to continuously improve it. They did not ensure that outcomes were positive and consistent, or that they met clinical expectations.

There were no systems in place to peer review the quality of images. No other clinical audits were undertaken.

There were no clear processes to demonstrate and review the escalation of concern for women receiving scans, aside from a note on an ultrasound report. We observed a patient whose pregnancy had been classed as non-viable was invited back a week later for another scan and not referred to the early pregnancy unit for follow up of concerns.

The evidence showed significant shortfalls. The service did not tell people about their rights around consent or respect these when delivering care and treatment.

Policies and processes were not in place to refer clients to relevant services if abnormalities were identified. The information given to us was contradictory between staff, the manager, and against the provider’s operating procedure.

The client Information and waiver form, referred to as the consent form by staff, did not meet General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and Information Commissioner's Office standards. The consent form was not explicit about storage limitations and rights of access under GDPR guidance.

Parts of the consent form were not in plain English and were not easily understandable by the public. Medical acronyms were used, and the meaning was not explained.

The consent/waiver form was available in 3 languages; however, staff were unable to articulate how they would provide any further translation services.