Window to the Womb Aylesbury

Updated 14 December 2021

Window to the Womb is operated by Baby Scan Clinic Ltd. As part of the agreement, the franchisor Window to the Womb Ltd provides the service with regular on-site support, access to their guidelines and policies, training and the use of their business model and brand.

Window to the Womb Aylesbury opened in October 2018 and provides diagnostic pregnancy ultrasound services to self-funding women, who are more than six weeks pregnant and aged 16 years and above, across Buckinghamshire. All ultrasound scans performed at Window to the Womb are in addition to those provided through the NHS.

Window to the Womb was separated into two clinics: the ‘firstScan’ clinic, which specialises in early pregnancy scans, and ‘Window to the Womb’ clinic which offers later pregnancy and wellbeing scans. From 1 September 2020 to 31 August 2021 the service had performed 2640 ‘firstScans’ and 2637 Window to the Womb scans.

The ‘firstScan’ clinic offers the following scans:

• Reassurance, viability, dating and specialist scans from six to 15+6 weeks gestation.

The Window to the Womb clinic offers the following scans:

• Wellbeing scans from 16 to 40 weeks’ gestation.
• Wellbeing and gender scans from 16 to 23 weeks ‘gestation.
• Growth and presentation scans from 26 to 42 weeks’ gestation.
• 4D baby scans from 24 to 34 weeks’ gestation.

All women accessing the service self-refer to the clinic and are all seen as private women (self-funding).

The service runs six clinics a week, Tuesday evenings, Wednesday during the day, Thursday and Friday evenings, Saturday all day and Sunday mornings.

The service has had a registered manager in post since October 2018 and was registered with the CQC to undertake the regulated activity of diagnostic and screening procedures.

We have inspected this service once before on 13 November 2019. We rated the service as Good.

Updated 14 December 2021

Our rating of this location stayed the same. We rated it as good because:

• 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. Staff assessed risks to women, acted on them and kept good care records. The service managed safety incidents well and learned lessons from them.
• Staff provided good care to women. 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. Women were able to access key services in a timely way.
• Staff 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 the individual needs of women, and made it easy for people to give feedback. People could access the service when they needed it and did not have to wait too long for a diagnostic procedure.
• 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 women receiving care. Staff were clear about their roles and accountabilities. The service engaged well with women and the community to plan and manage services and all staff were committed to improving services continually.

Updated 10 January 2020

The service provided at this location was diagnostic and screening procedures. We rated this service as good overall because it was safe, caring, responsive and well-led.

Updated 14 December 2021

Our rating of this service stayed the same. We rated it as good .

See the summary above for details.