BPAS - Merseyside

Updated 28 July 2022

BPAS Merseyside is operated by British Pregnancy Advisory Service. The British Pregnancy Advisory Service was established as a registered charity in 1968 to provide a safe, legal abortion service following the 1967 Abortion Act. BPAS Merseyside opened in 1970.

The BPAS Merseyside clinic provides termination of pregnancy services for women from Merseyside and surrounding areas as well as patients from Ireland and across the United Kingdom. It also offers pregnancy testing, unplanned pregnancy counselling/consultation, miscarriage management, sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment, contraceptive advice, contraception supply and abortion aftercare. The clinic has three screening rooms, three consulting rooms and one treatment room. It operates surgical lists from Wednesday to Saturday and a consultation list on a Tuesday.

BPAS Merseyside provides consultation and early medical abortion treatments up to 10 weeks gestation, including home use pills by post. Surgical termination of pregnancy is offered up to 23 weeks and 6 days gestation using local anaesthetic and conscious sedation or general anaesthetic. In addition, the Merseyside clinic offers vasectomies at a monthly clinic, though this remained suspended at the time of our inspection.

BPAS Merseyside has one satellite clinic in Warrington which has two consulting rooms for consultation, pre-treatment scanning and dispensing of take home early medical abortion medicines. It operates Tuesday and Wednesday each week in a suite of rooms leased from the building landlord.

BPAS Merseyside closed in April 2022 for one month due to building works, all relevant notifications were submitted to CQC. BPAS Warrington remained open during this time and one surgical termination of pregnancy list each week was carried out by BPAS Merseyside at another BPAS location.

The location is registered to provide the following regulated activities:

• Termination of pregnancies

• Surgical procedures

• Treatment of disease, disorder or injury

• Family planning

• Diagnostic and screening procedures

The location has a manager registered with CQC.

BPAS Merseyside clinic was last inspected 4 August 2021 following information highlighted at routine engagement with another BPAS location on 15 June 2021. Following the last inspection, we took enforcement action which included the use of our urgent enforcement powers, where we placed conditions on the location’s registration in relation to safe care and treatment, consent and safeguarding.

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 28 July 2022

This was a comprehensive, unannounced inspection to follow up on enforcement action taken during an inspection in August 2021 where we identified specific areas of concern.

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

• The service did not have a system for the observation of children under the age of 18 years using the modified early warning score (MEWS) to ensure early recognition and safe timely escalation of a deteriorating children.
• Staff did not always give an effective handover, which included all relevant information, when women moved between different stages of their treatment.
• Women did not always receive treatment within agreed timeframes and national targets.
• Not all staff felt respected, supported and valued.
• Though improvements had been made since our last inspection the service had not had sufficient time to show improvement was embedded and could be sustained.

However:

• The service had improved its processes and systems to safeguard people from abuse and manage patient safety incidents. Staff now comprehensively assessed and documented risk assessments.
• The service had enough staff to care for women and keep them safe. Staff had training in key skills, understood how to protect women from abuse, and managed safety well. The service controlled infection risk well. The service managed medicines well.
• Staff provided good care and treatment and gave women pain relief when they needed it. Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent. Staff worked well together for the benefit of women, advised them on how to lead healthier lives, supported them to make decisions about their care, and had access to good information. Staff followed national guidance to gain women’s consent, this was an improvement from our last inspection.
• Staff consistently treated women with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, took account of their individual needs, and helped them understand their conditions. They provided emotional support to women, families and carers.
• The service planned care to meet the needs of local people, took account of women’s individual needs, and made it easy for people to give feedback. People could access the service when they needed it.
• 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. They were focused on the needs of women receiving care. Staff were clear about their roles and accountabilities. The service engaged well with women and local services to plan and manage services and all staff were committed to improving services continually.

Updated 28 July 2022

Our rating of this service improved. We rated it as requires improvement.

See overall summary for more information.

In the reporting period April 2021 to March 2022 the service carried out 978 surgical terminations of pregnancy and 931 early medical abortions. The service held a current Department of Health licence to practice under the Abortion Act and displayed copies of the licence at each of its registered locations.

• One patient was transferred out to another hospital from January 2022 to May 2022
• No incidences of hospital acquired Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Methicillin- susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA), Escherichia coli (E.coli) or Clostridium difficile (C.diff).
• One complaint was received within the reporting period from September 2021 to May 2022.