Electrodiagnostic Services Ltd Also known as Dr Stephen Coates

Updated 9 June 2022

Electrodiagnostic Services is operated by Electrodiagnostic Services Limited. The service is registered with CQC to provide diagnostic and screening procedures. The registered manager had been in post since 09 August 2018. The service provides electrodiagnostic procedures including nerve conduction studies (NCS), Electromyography (EMG) and Electroencephalography (EEG) to contracted NHS patients in the Northeast. The service is available to both adults and children and provides approximately 2500 diagnostic appointments across a year. The service currently operates from two hosting hospitals within the North East of England. Diagnostic procedures are carried out in a leased room subject to a service level agreement. The Registered Manager is also the Consultant Clinical Neurologist and is supported by a second director and a clinical assistant who acts as chaperone.

We have not inspected this service previously.

Updated 9 June 2022

The service had not been inspected previously.

We rated it as good because:

• The service had enough staff to care for patients and keep them safe. Staff had training in key skills and understood how to protect patients from abuse. The service controlled infection risk well and understood and reported incidents appropriately. The service-controlled infection risk well and they kept equipment and the premises visibly clean. The service had enough staff with the right qualifications, skills, training and experience to keep patients safe from avoidable harm.
• The service provided care and treatment based on national guidance and evidence-based practice and monitored the effectiveness of care and treatment. Staff worked well together for the benefit of the patients. The service made sure patients had enough information to make decisions about their care.
• The service had a strong, visible person-centred culture. Staff were highly motivated and passionate. Patients were treated with compassion and kindness and staff respected their privacy and dignity.
• The service planned and provided care in a way that met the needs of local people and people could access the service when they needed it. It was easy for people to give feedback and raise concerns about care received.
• Leaders had the skills and abilities to run the service. The service had a vision for what it wanted to achieve and a strategy to turn it into action, developed with all relevant stakeholders.

However:

• Some governance processes were not embedded such as the monitoring of staff records and the development of service risk registers and incident investigations.
• The provider did not collate or review data regarding patient referral numbers and timescales in which patients were seen this meant there was no formal process to ensure patients were seen in a timely way.

Updated 9 June 2022