The Care Quality Commission
  • Hospital
  • Independent hospital

Window to the Womb

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Unit 3, Station Road, Chester Le Street, County Durham, DH3 3DU

Provided and run by:
D.I. Harries Limited

All Inspections

During an assessment of Diagnostic imaging

We inspected using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out a short-notice, announced inspection on 31 March and 1 April 2026. We assessed all quality statements from the safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led key questions.

Window to the Womb in Chester le Street is owned by D I Harries Ltd and trades as Window to the Womb. The service provides private diagnostic imaging for self-funding adults and young people over the age of 16. The service offers pregnancy scans, pelvic scans, fertility scans, general health scans, and blood tests. Window to the Womb has separated their services into 3 clinic types; general health clinics providing ultrasound scans and blood tests to adults, and two types of pregnancy clinics - ‘FirstScan’ clinic sessions specialised in early pregnancy scans up to 14 weeks +6 days gestation and ‘Window to the Womb’ clinic sessions offered later pregnancy scans.

The service has had a registered manager in post since initial registration and is registered with the CQC to provide diagnostic and screening procedures. No medicines are used.

We visited all areas of the clinic, including reception and the waiting area, quiet room, and scan room. We interviewed 6 staff, including the clinic manager, registered manager, receptionist, sonographer, and scan assistants. We spoke with 5 people who used the service and 4 relatives who also shared their views. We reviewed staff and patient records and observed 5 pregnancy scans. No special reviews or investigations had been carried out by the CQC in the 12 months prior to inspection.

There were 7 members of staff employed by the service which had enough staff to keep people who used the service safe. Staff were trained in key skills, safeguarded people from abuse, and managed safety and infection risks effectively. Staff carried out risk assessments and documented them appropriately. Safety incidents were managed well, with learning shared across the team, and other Window to the Womb clinics in the group in the Northeast and Northwest of England.

Staff provided consistent care and treatment. Managers monitored performance and ensured staff were competent. Staff worked collaboratively, supported people in making informed choices, and provided access to relevant information. Services were tailored to meet people’s needs.

People were treated with compassion and respect. Staff maintained privacy and dignity, responded to individual needs, and offered emotional support to pregnant women and their families.

Care was planned around the needs of the local population. Feedback was encouraged, and access to services was timely, with no waiting list.

Leadership was effective. Reliable information systems supported service delivery and staff development. Staff understood the service’s vision and values, felt respected and supported, and were clear about their roles and opportunities to learn and grow. The service engaged well with people and the community, and staff were committed to continuous improvement.

During an assessment of the hospital overall

We inspected using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out a short-notice, announced inspection on 31 March and 1 April 2026.

Window to the Womb - Chester le Street is a scanning service and is registered to provide diagnostic and screening procedures for self-funding, self-referring adults and young people over the age of 16. The service runs clinics during weekdays and evenings, Saturdays and Sundays. The service offers pregnancy scans, pelvic scans, fertility scans, general health scans, and blood tests.

At this assessment we identified no breaches of regulations.

We assessed all quality statements from the safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led key questions. We did not assess the quality statement relating to medicines as this was not relevant for this service. We visited clinical areas and spoke with the nominated individual, sonographer and scan assistants, registered manager, reception staff, and people who used the service. We looked at patient’s healthcare records, policies, procedures, and other documents related to the running of the service.

We rated the service as good.

Our rating for each key question was good.

27 June 2019

During a routine inspection

Window to the Womb is operated by D I Harries Limited, and is located in central Chester-le-Street, a town in County Durham. The service operates under a franchise agreement with Window to the Womb (Franchise) Ltd. The service is an independent healthcare provider offering antenatal ultrasound imaging and diagnostic services to self-funding or private patients over 16 years of age.

Window to the Womb has separated its services into two clinics. These are comprised of a ‘Firstscan’ clinic, which specialises in early pregnancy scans (from six to 15 weeks of pregnancy), and a ‘Window to the Womb’ clinic, which offers later pregnancy scans (from 16 weeks of pregnancy).

We inspected the service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out a short-announced inspection on 27 June 2019; giving staff two working days’ notice. We had to conduct a short-announced inspection because the service was only open if patient demand required it.

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 fundamental standards.

Services we rate

We had not previously inspected this service. We rated it as Outstanding overall.

We found the following areas of good practice:

  • The service made sure staff were competent for their roles. Staff had the right qualifications, skills, training and experience to keep people safe from harm and deliver effective care and treatment. There were established referral pathways to NHS antenatal care providers.

  • Staff understood how to protect patients from abuse and the service had systems to do so.

  • There were clear processes for staff to raise concerns and report incidents; and staff understood their roles and responsibilities. The service treated concerns and complaints seriously, and had systems to investigate them. Lessons learned were shared with the whole team and the wider service.

  • The service operated an open and honest culture, and there was a national freedom to speak up guardian, and an alternative (independent) dispute resolution service; if needed.

  • The environment was appropriate for the service being delivered, was patient centred, and was accessible to all women.

  • We saw extensive evidence of positive feedback from women who had used the service; including from women who had received difficult news, and those who had experienced pregnancy loss.

  • Staff understood the importance of obtaining informed consent, and involved patients and those close to them in decisions about their care and treatment.

  • The service had a vision for what it wanted to achieve, and consistently engaged well with patients and staff to plan and manage services.

We found the following areas of outstanding practice:

  • We saw all staff at the service (including scan assistants) had received safeguarding children and young people, and safeguarding adults’ level three training. In addition to this, we saw that staff mandatory training at the location included documented six-monthly review and understanding checks of Window to the Womb safeguarding policies.

  • There were high levels of emotional support available to women and their companions. Scan assistants acted as chaperones, to ensure women felt comfortable and received optimum emotional support. All staff received communication training to offer emotional support. We also saw scan assistants periodically assessed sonographers for their quality of customer care and communication skills, and findings were fed-back to them. The service purposely ran early pregnancy and later pregnancy clinics at different times to ensure that women who had experienced pregnancy loss or were anxious about their pregnancy did not share the same area with women who were much later in their pregnancy. Staff had received enhanced bereavement and communication training. The service also benefited from a dedicated ‘quiet room’, which could be used if women and their companions had received difficult news.

  • The service systematically improved service quality and safeguarded high standards of care by creating an environment for excellent care to flourish. The registered manager was a registered bereavement midwife of ten years standing with extensive of practice in large NHS teaching hospitals; they brought this breadth of experience to leadership of the service. Leaders strived to deliver and motivated staff to succeed; personal and professional staff development was positively encouraged and there was a deeply embedded system of leadership development and succession planning. The service was committed to promoting training, research and innovation. For example, the service had formed a collaboration with a local (Russel group) university and assisted them with performing research scans for fetal research. They had participated in a study exploring auditory simulation in the womb, and another study exploring the effects of hyperemesis and smoking on the fetus. At inspection, we saw that the service was currently involved in a study exploring fetal taste preferences. They were also due to assist with an upcoming study exploring the effects of maternal anxiety and depression on fetal neural development.

Ann Ford

Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals (North)