Updated 1 December 2021
The service is located in a building at a Preston business park occupying two floors with secure intercom access. No patients are seen at the location which only houses the head office of the business.
The service provides diagnostic and screening procedures (neuro physiological investigations) which are non-invasive. These are provided to patients in both the NHS and independent hospitals throughout the UK where the treating hospital does not provide the service. This supports the hospitals to meet referral to treatment targets. Patients remain under the care of the client hospital or NHS trust.
The neuro physiological investigations undertaken are nerve conduction studies (NCS) or electromyogram (EMG); electroencephalogram (EEG); sleep-deprived EEG and ambulatory EEG.
These services can be variable, dependent on the needs of the client trust or hospital. For example, in some trusts they provide a full service where they receive the referral from the referring clinician, manage the appointment process, onsite clinic provision with chaperone, physiologist and/or consultant and provide the report. In other services they may only provide a physiologist who conducts the tests. Tests may also be conducted on inpatients, for example, patients in critical care.
The service also undertakes intra-operative monitoring (IOM) mainly for spinal surgery. A physiologist, employed by the service, works in operating theatres with surgical teams to manage nerve reactions during spinal, and occasionally, vascular surgery.
The service provides diagnostic and screening procedures for children at two NHS trusts in the south of England, though children only make up a small proportion of the total patients seen.
From September 2020 to August 2021, the service carried out 11,759 nerve conduction studies (NCS), electromyogram (EMG) and electroencephalogram (EEG) procedures at 19 locations. Of these, 375 (3.2%) were carried out on children and young people at two locations.
During the same period, the service also participated in 586 surgical procedures carrying out intra-operative measurements at 24 locations.
The service has a Care Quality Commission registered manager and nominated individual.
We have not inspected this location before.
The main service provided by this hospital was diagnostic and screening. Where our findings on diagnostic and screening – for example, management arrangements – also apply to other services (children and young people), we do not repeat the information but cross-refer to the diagnostic and screening service.