Sloane Diagnostic Imaging is operated by Alliance Medical Limited.

The service provided diagnostic imaging. We inspected diagnostic imaging.

We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out the unannounced inspection on 08 February 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 good overall.

We found good practice in relation to:

• Staff were provided with the necessary training to allow them to keep people using the service safe from avoidable harm. There was good compliance with mandatory training among all staff groups.

• There were sufficient numbers of suitably qualified and skilled staff to meet patients’ needs. Staff were encouraged to develop in their role and were supported to attend further training.

• We saw staff apply infection control measures in line with best practice guidance. Hand hygiene audits had been undertaken and showed good compliance.

• Policies and procedures reflected best practice and national guidance.

• There were systems in place to ensure equipment was maintained and serviced, in line with recommendations.

• Staff understood their patients’ individual needs, and made every possible effort to accommodate these.

• Patient feedback was positive about the service. Staff maintained patient’s privacy and dignity in the unit and a chaperone was always available, if required.

• Staff spoke positively of the local leadership and felt engaged and able to contribute to improvement to the service.

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

• The service did not have an up to date radiation risk assessment in place at the time of the inspection.

• Staff had not all signed off the local rules to indicate they had read and understood the rules. This was not in line with the provider’s policy.

• Staff had also not signed to confirm they had read a number of core policies relevant to the area of practice, as required by the corporate policy.

• Patients did not have the opportunity to read the information leaflets available for each modality ahead of their appointment.

• The unit did not monitor waiting times in clinic, despite this being raised in several complaints in the last year.

• The service did not offer mental capacity act training for staff.

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

Nigel Acheson

Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals (London)

We spoke to some people who had recently received treatment at the Sloane Diagnostic Imaging. People we spoke with told us that they were happy with the care and treatment they received. One person told us that staff were “kind”, another person said the system was “effective”. People told us that they were given adequate information before they started using the service regarding their procedure. People told us that they felt that their privacy and dignity was respected and the environment was clean and well maintained.

We found that people were involved in their treatment plan and were given adequate information about their scans. There were appropriate emergency procedures in place including resuscitation equipment. We found that the provider followed relevant infection control procedures including appropriate hand washing procedures. There were enough trained staff on duty to provide care and support to people who used the service. We found that the provider maintained appropriate records relating to people’s treatment and other records relevant to the management of the service.

We spoke to several people using the service on the day of our visit. A person told us “the staff have been exceptionally good” and that staff were professional. One person said staff were very efficient. They said that they had been consulted about any safety issues before their scan.

People told us they felt confident that they had been cared for safely.

People said that staff respected their privacy and dignity. They felt that they were given sufficient information about the procedures and the establishment before any procedure was carried out. People also said that they provided detailed information about their health status prior to any procedure. People found the establishment to be clean and maintained to an acceptable standard. Overall, people were generally satisfied with the quality and level of service that they had received at Sloane Diagnostic Unit.