The Care Quality Commission
  • Hospital
  • Independent hospital

The Baby Skan Studio

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

81 Kenwyn Street, Truro, Cornwall, TR1 3BZ (01872) 261006

Provided and run by:
Miss Kelly Ann Barritt

All Inspections

During an assessment of Diagnostic imaging

Date of assessment 7 March to 19 March 2025. We conducted an on-site, focused assessment visit of The Babyskan Studio. The Babyskan Studio provides private ultrasound obstetric scans and private men and women health check ultrasound scans. We assessed 22 quality statements from the safe, effective, responsive, caring and well-led key questions. We found the service had improved since the last inspection and was good in the key questions of safe, caring, effective and response but remained requires improvement for well-led.

Safe: The service worked with people and healthcare partners to establish and maintain safe systems of care. People were protected and kept safe. The facilities and equipment met the needs of people, were clean and well maintained.

Effective: People were involved in deciding which scan was appropriate for their needs and staff made sure clients understood their care and treatment to enable them to give informed consent.

Caring; People were treated with kindness and compassion. Friends and family were able to attend scans with clients. Staff protected people’s privacy and dignity.

Responsive: People knew and were encouraged to provide feedback on the service and had choice regarding scanning options and packages. The service provided information people could understand.

Well-Led: The service did not have clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability and good governance.

The service was previously in breach of the legal regulations in relation to safe care and treatment, complaints, and staffing. Improvements were found at this assessment and the service was no longer in breach of these regulations.

However, the service was also previously in breach of the legal regulation in relation to good governance. Improvements were not found at this assessment, and the service remained in breach of this regulations. We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment.

During an assessment of the hospital overall

Date of assessment 7 March to 19 March 2025. We conducted an on-site, focused assessment visit of The Babyskan Studio. The assessment looked at diagnostic imaging services, which we rated as good overall, however well- led remained requires improvement.  The Babyskan Studio provides private ultrasound obstetric scans and private men and women health check ultrasound scans. 

In our assessment of diagnostic imaging services, we found people were kept safe and protected from avoidable harm.  There were some processes to monitor the quality and safety of the service and ensure people could access the service.  However, we found that good governance processes were not embedded and leaders did not always mitigate risks. 

26th - 27th September 2019

During a routine inspection

​The Baby Skan Studio is operated by Miss Kelly Ann Barritt who is also the registered provider. The service opened in 2007 and was registered for the regulated activity of diagnostic and screening procedures in September 2015. Facilities include a waiting room, scanning room, toilet and staff kitchen. The Baby Skan Studio provides obstetric ultrasound services for pregnant women from 18 years of age. Abdominal ultrasound scans are offered from seven weeks gestation to full term of pregnancy. This service is provided to self-funding women across Cornwall.

The service provided single specialty diagnostic imaging. We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. This was our first inspection since the service opened. We carried out a short notice announced inspection on 26 and 27 September 2019 with further patient engagement on 30 September and staff engagement on 1 October 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

This was the first time we rated this service. We rated it as Requires improvement overall.

  • The service did not operate safe recruitment practices. References for staff had not been obtained.
  • There were gaps in management and support arrangements for staff, such as appraisal and supervision. Appraisals were not conducted and there was no evidence of completion of an induction or probationary period.
  • A limited level of health promotion was considered or shared with patients using the service. Instead patients would receive their health promotion via the NHS maternity pathways and care.
  • The safeguarding lead had not received adult and children safeguarding training to level three and the provider had not received adult and children safeguarding training to level two.
  • Patients were able to give feedback and raise concerns about care received but the complaints policy was not clear about how complaints would be managed.
  • The service did not control infection risk well. Premises were not always visibly clean.
  • The design, maintenance and use of facilities and premises kept people safe but clinical waste and equipment were not managed well.
  • Staff telephoned the NHS hospital to make referrals and gave scan pictures to women to give to the hospital, but we saw no evidence of a standardised referral form or scan report to accompany referrals.
  • There was no formal incident reporting system or process for sharing learning.

However, we also found the following areas of good practice:

  • A high level of care was provided within the service. Staff cared for patients and their families with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect. People were truly respected and valued as individuals.
  • Staff provided emotional support to patients and those close to them to minimise their distress. Emotional and social needs were highly valued by staff and embedded in care and treatment.
  • Staff involved patients and their families in decisions about their care and treatment. Their individual preferences and needs were reflected in the care delivered.
  • The service was responsive to the needs of patients and their families and was tailored to pregnant women. Patients were able to access an appointment when they needed it.
  • Staff worked well together to provide a caring service in a relaxed environment.

Following this inspection, we told the provider that it must take some actions to comply with the regulations and that it should make other improvements, even though a regulation had not been breached, to help the service improve. We also issued the provider with four requirement notices Details are at the end of the report.

Nigel Acheson

Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals (South West)