Window to the Womb

Updated 9 September 2019

Window to the Womb is a private diagnostic service based in Maidstone, Kent. It is owned by Kent Ultrasound Studio . Window to the womb (Franchise) Ltd was established in 2003 and has 38 franchised clinics across the United Kingdom.

As part of the agreement, the franchisor (Window to the Womb Ltd) provides the service with regular on-site support, access to their guidelines and policies, training, and the use of their business model and brand.

Window to the Womb Maidstone opened in November 2016 and provides diagnostic pregnancy ultrasound services to self-funding women. The service offers two clinic types. A first scan clinic between six to 15.6 weeks, offering transvaginal scans to women under 10 weeks of pregnancy. Window to the womb clinic are for women who are 16+ weeks and offers 3D and 4D ultrasound scan packages.

All ultrasound scans performed at Window to the Womb are in addition to those provided through the NHS as part of a pregnancy care pathway. The service has links with local acute trusts maternity services and offers a service to women living within Maidstone and the surrounding area.

The hospital has had a registered manager in post since registering with the Care Quality Commission in November 2016.

Updated 9 September 2019

Window to the Womb is operated by Kent Ultrasound Studio and operates under a franchise agreement with Window to the Womb Ltd. The service provides obstetric ultrasound services to self-funding women in Maidstone and the surrounding area.

The service provides obstetric ultrasound services to women aged from 16 years. All pregnant women under the age of 18 years must be accompanied by a parent or responsible adult over the age of 25 years.

The service is registered to provide the regulated activity of diagnostic and screening procedures.

We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out a short-notice announced inspection on the 8th and 11th July 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.

Updated 9 September 2019

This is a diagnostic imaging service run by Kent Ultrasound Studio as part of the Window to the Womb Ltd franchise. The service is based in Maidstone, Kent.

We rated this service as good because it was safe, caring, responsive and well led. We do not rate effective for this type of service.