Updated 13 June 2019
Life Through The Lens - Stoke Centre is operated by Life Through The Lens Limited. The service opened in 2013. It is a private service in Stoke on Trent, West Midlands. The service primarily serves the communities of Stoke on Trent. It also accepts patients from outside this area. All ultrasound scans performed at Preview Baby Limited are in addition to those provided through the NHS.
The service has had a registered manager in post since it opened.
Updated 13 June 2019
Life Through The Lens - Stoke Centre is operated by Life Through The Lens Limited. Facilities include one consultation room and one reception area.
The service comes under the diagnostic imaging core service, but the service undertakes baby keepsakes as the sole activity which are not providing a diagnostic service.
We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We undertook an unannounced inspection on 4 April 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.
Services we rate
We rated it as Requires improvement overall.
We found the following areas that require improvement:
The service did not provide mandatory training in key skills to all staff and did not make sure everyone completed it. Not all staff had basic life support training, training to recognise and report abuse and Mental Capacity Act training.
The service did not always provide care and treatment based on national guidance and evidence of its effectiveness. Managers did not check to make sure staff followed guidance.
The registered manager did not have all the necessary knowledge they needed to run a service providing high-quality sustainable care.
The service did not systematically improve service quality and did not safeguard high standards of care. The registered manager was not aware of all the risks to the service.
Staff were not able to demonstrate they had a cleaning checklist in place.
Staff stored ‘control substances that are hazardous to health’ (COSHH) products in an unlocked cupboard.
The registered manager did not monitor the effectiveness of care and treatment and used the findings to improve them.
The service did not have access to a translation service for non-English speakers.
We found the following areas of good practice:
The service had a good system in place for referring patients to other organisations, managing patient incidents and dealing with patient complaints.
Staff cared for patients with compassion. Feedback from patients confirmed that staff treated them well and with kindness and would provide support if necessary. The service engaged well with women who use the service.
The service mostly had suitable premises and equipment and looked after them well.
Staff of different kinds worked together as a team to benefit patients. Healthcare professionals supported each other to provide good care.
The service had a procedure in place for gathering consent from women prior to any scan and staff followed this.
The service planned and provided services in a way that met the needs of local people and people could access the service when they want to.
The registered manager promoted a positive culture that supported and valued staff, creating a sense of common purpose based on shared values. Staff felt well supported by the registered manager.
Following this inspection, we told the provider that it must make some improvements where regulations have been breached and it should make other improvements, to help the service improve. We issued three requirement notices. Details are at the end of the report.
Amanda Stanford
Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals (Central)
Updated 13 June 2019
The provision of ultrasound scanning services, which is classified under the diagnostic core service, was the only core service provided at Life Through The Lens – Stoke Centre.
We rated the service as requires improvement overall because staff did not have the appropriate mandatory training and there was no system in place to monitor this. The service did not have evidence of using national guidance. The service did not undertake any audits to monitor that staff were following best practice.
However, at the time of our inspection, there were also areas of good practice such as processes in place for the escalation of unexpected findings during ultrasound scans. Feedback from women and their families was extremely positive. Women could access services and appointments in a way and at a time that suited them, women had timely access to treatment and there was a positive culture at the service.