Baby-scan unit in Wakefield misdiagnosed miscarriages, damning report finds

A catalogue of serious issues were revealed after Baby Ultrasound Clinic, on Wood Street, was visited by inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in May, and the findings reported recently.

They gave the clinic an ‘inadequate’ overall rating - the worst possible score - after finding “significant safety concerns”.

Due to this, they took “immediate urgent enforcement action and suspended the service”.

The service provided a range of diagnostic ultrasound scans in 2D, 3D and 4D during pregnancy and gender-reveals for women from age 16 years.

Among a long list of highlighted issues, the CQC said staff did not have appropriate safeguarding training, equipment was visibly dirty, staff were not assessed on whether they were competent and complaints were not properly investigated.

The damning report reads: “We reviewed the complaints book and saw several incidents which had not been categorised as incidents. These included wrongly diagnosed miscarriage and allegations of poor staff competency.

“We saw several concerns expressed as complaints.

“Some women stated that they had been given the incorrect gender or had been told they had miscarried wrongly."

They also raised major concerns about safety, adding: “We saw no medical assessment or risk consideration when booking women for scans.

"Some women could book a scan through a third party offer site, which potentially could be purchased using a false name.

"At no point was the identity of women checked and therefore the provider did not hold or monitor women who had received several scans and were therefore at risk of excessive ultrasound scanning exposure.

"We saw in several reports that some women had told the provider at the point of booking, that they were experiencing heavy bleeding and clotting. These women were not escalated or signposted towards emergency services.”

The clinic - which is franchised - said it was under new management since the inspection which took place.

A statement read: “This particular clinic has been taken over by new management who are working on this location to get this to the high standard we expect all our clinics to work to.”