The Care Quality Commission
  • Hospital
  • Independent hospital

Medserena Upright MRI Centre

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

114a Cromwell Road, Kensington, London, SW7 4ES

Provided and run by:
Medserena Upright MRI Ltd

All Inspections

6 July 2023

During a monthly review of our data

We carried out a review of the data available to us about Medserena Upright MRI Centre on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.

This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.

If you have concerns about Medserena Upright MRI Centre, you can give feedback on this service.

05 August 2021

During an inspection looking at part of the service

Our rating of this location improved. 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, understood how to protect patients from abuse, and managed safety well. The service controlled infection risk well. Staff assessed risks to patients, acted on them and kept good care records. They managed medicines well. The service managed safety incidents well and learned lessons from them. Staff collected safety information and used it to improve the service.
  • Leaders ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills. Staff understood the service’s vision and values, and how to apply them in their work. Staff felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on the needs of patients receiving care. Staff were clear about their roles and accountabilities. The service engaged well with patients and the community to plan and manage services and all staff were committed to improving services continually.

However:

  • The call alarm in the patient toilet had been relocated since the last inspection and was now within easy reach from the toilet. However, it was a push-button call alarm and it was not obvious it was for emergency use. This was also the case in the patient changing rooms and the MRI suite. Since the inspection the service had demonstrated changes and signage now made it clear the push buttons were for emergency use.
  • All staff including administrative staff had been made aware of their roles in the case of a medical emergency such as cardiac arrest and knew how to turn the magnet off. However, a radiographer occasionally worked without a second radiographer or radiologist, and there was a lack of all staff scenario training for when a patient was in distress.

27 February 2019

During an inspection looking at part of the service

Medserena Upright MRI Centre is operated by Medserena Upright MRI Limited. The service provides MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) diagnostic facilities for adults and young people over the age of 12 years.

We inspected magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) diagnostic facilities.

We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out the unannounced inspection on 27 February 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.

The service provided by this unit was MRI. We have not previously inspected this service.

Services we rate

This was the first inspection of this service. We rated it as Requires improvement overall.

  • Staff did not follow incident reporting procedures. There had been an incident which staff had responded to, but, managers were unaware of. Staff were aware of the provider’s incident reporting procedures, but, did not report or document the incident.

  • A stand aid toilet frame in a toilet on the scanning floor was not labelled to indicate if the stand aid frame was MRI safe.

  • A patient call alarm in the patient toilet could not be reached by patients using the facilities.

  • A first aid box in the kitchen contained a number of out of date dressings. There was no documented review schedule for the first aid box.Resus trolley items were stored randomly and there were items out of date in the resus trolley. Colour coded needle colours were stored in the same compartment in the resus trolley. Two sharps bins in the MRI observation area were open and did not have information recorded, such as the date of opening.

  • Electrical safety testing had not been completed to ensure non-clinical electrical equipment was safe to use.

  • Contrast was administered at the centre, there were no records of the authorisation process for the administration of contrast.

  • There was a lack of effective governance processes to assess, monitor and review risks.

  • There were no meetings or formal measures of performance, with the exception of financial performance.

  • Managers did not demonstrate a thorough awareness of their regulatory responsibilities.

However, we also found:

  • Patients were treated with kindness, dignity and respect.

  • Patients received information in a way which they understood and felt involved in their care.

  • Staff provided patients and those close to them with emotional support. Staff were supportive of anxious, phobic or distressed patients.

  • Staff were positive about their local leaders and felt they were well supported.

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 two requirement notices. Details are at the end of the report.

Nigel Acheson

Deputy Chief inspector of Hospitals (London and the South East)