Archived: The Leeds Upright MRI Centre

The Leeds Upright MRI Centre is operated by InHealth Group .

The Leeds Upright MRI Centre opened in September 2012 following the success of the London Upright MRI Centre which opened in 2006, with the aim to provide the same high-quality services to the people of North England and beyond.

The centre houses the first P aramed MROpen scanner installed in the United Kingdom , and at the time of opening was only the fifth to be installed worldwide. The scanner is also the only u pright magnet in North Yorkshire and is the furthest north in the UK.

Magnetic resonance imaging is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to form pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes of the body in both health and disease. Magnetic resonance imaging scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and radio waves to generate images of the organs in the body.

The scanner is specifically designed to assist those who may not be able to tolerate a conventional magnetic resonance imaging ( MRI ) scan for a variety of reasons;

• Claustrophobia or severe anxiety

• High body mass index ( BMI ) or broad shoulder width

• Unable to lay flat for a variety of reasons

• Have the need of a positional/upright scan to assist in diagnosis

The aim of the centre is to provide a diagnostic pathway for those service users whose care pathways would not be possible through lack of an MRI scan, because they are not able to tolerate the confines of a standard configuration magnet.

The registered manager has developed the scanner alongside the manufacturer since its installation, including sequence development and service user positioning, and the team is experienced in assisting anxious service users.

In February 2019 United Open MRI Ltd was purchased by InHealth Group .

We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out a short notice announced inspection on the 12 November 2019.

To get to the heart of service user 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.

During the inspection we spoke with four staff, four service users and one relative. We reviewed 10 sets of service user notes, five consent forms and reviewed four staff files .

Services we rate

Our rating of this hospital/service stayed the same . We rated it as Good overall.

We found good practice in relation to:

• The service provided mandatory training in key skills to all staff and made sure everyone completed it.

• Staff understood how to protect service users from abuse and when to contact other agencies to do so.

• The service had suitable premises and equipment and looked after them well.

• Staff completed risk assessments for each service user.

• The service had enough staff with the right qualifications, skills, training and experience to keep people safe from avoidable harm and to provide the right care and treatment

• The service provided care and treatment based on national guidance and evidence of its effectiveness, monitored the effectiveness of care and treatment and used the findings to improve them.

• The service made sure staff were competent for their roles and staff worked together as a team to benefit service users .

• Staff understood their roles and responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and in relation to informed consent.

• Staff cared for service users with compassion and provided emotional support to service users to minimise their distress. Feedback from service users confirmed that staff treated them well and with kindness.

• Staff involved service users and those close to them in decisions about their care and treatment.

• The service planned and provided services in a way that met the needs of local people.

• The service took account of service users individual needs and people could access the service when they needed it.

• The service investigated incidents and complaints, learned lessons from the results, and shared these with all staff.

• The service had a vision for what it wanted to achieve and workable plans to turn it into action.

• Managers across the service promoted a positive culture that supported and valued staff, creating a sense of common purpose based on shared values.

• The service collected, analysed, managed and used information well to support its activities, using secure electronic systems with security safeguards.

• The service engaged well with service users , staff, the public and local organisations to plan and manage appropriate services and collaborated with partner organisations effectively.

• The service was committed to improving services.

However, we also found the following issues that the service provider needs to improve:

• The service did not adhere to standard labelling of equipment in line with MHRA best practice for example; MR safe, MR unsafe and MR conditional . We found fire extinguishers stored outside the MRI scan room were labelled with manufacturer non specific labelling.

• The service did not adhere to MHRA best practice following contractual servicing of machinery, fault repair or physics quality assurance (QA) checks. The service did not use staff hand over forms following servicing and or repair of machinery to evidence quality assurance. 

Following this inspection, we told the provider that it should make some improvements, even though a regulation had not been breached, to help the service improve. Details are at the end of the report.

Ann Ford

Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals