Impact Medical Limited

Updated 19 April 2023

Impact Medical Limited is a service which provides shockwave therapy to both NHS and private sector patients across the United Kingdom. Extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL) is a treatment which uses shockwaves to break down stones in the kidney and urinary tract. The shockwaves are produced by a machine and are focused onto the stone using X-ray or ultrasound guidance. The waves pass through the skin and break up the stones into tiny fragments which come out when the urine is passed. The service offers the treatment to both adults and children.

The service operates from a base site in Merseyside, North West England. From here four sets of mobile equipment comprising of a treatment table, X-ray and ultrasound machines are transported to satellite sites based within host organisations. Two clinics are fixed meaning the equipment is permanently based within the host organisations. The service had treated a total of 2774 patients in the year prior to our inspection.

This service has previously undergone comprehensive and focussed inspections. A warning notice was served to the provider requiring that they make immediate improvements and comply by 1st July 2022 following the comprehensive inspection in May 2022. A focussed inspection took place in October 2022 to follow up on the required improvements from the warning notice.

This inspection in March 2023 showed that the service was now compliant with regulations and requirement notices had been met.

Updated 19 April 2023

Our rating of this location improved. We rated it as good because:

• Staff were competent and trained in key skills, safeguarding, assessing risks and reporting of incidents.
• Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service.
• Leaders had developed their leadership skills and were competent in how they ran the service using reliable systems and processes.
• Leaders had acted on feedback from the previous inspections and now met regulatory requirements.
• The service was engaged in research and innovation to improve outcomes for patients.

However:

• Safeguarding policies were not fully in line with up-to-date legislation.
• Although risks were recorded this was not in a consistent manner and did not enable tracking and monitoring.

Updated 19 April 2023

Our rating of this service improved. We rated it as good. See the summary above for details.