A FIRM which provides an MRI scanning service has been rated inadequate following an inspection from the Care Quality Commission (CQC). 

InPhase Mobile MRI Services Ltd was inspected by the health watchdog back in December. 

It provides a mobile MRI scanning service to NHS and private patients and this was the first inspection of the service since it registered with the CQC in 2018. Inspectors looked at how safe, responsive and well-led it was.

Following the inspection, the service, based in Ripponden, Halifax, was rated inadequate overall. It was rated inadequate for being well-led and rated requires improvement for being responsive and safe.

A warning notice was issued which told the service it needed to make significant improvements to its governance processes, said the CQC.

Sarah Dronsfield, CQC’s head of hospital inspection, said: “When we inspected InPhase Mobile MRI Services Ltd, we had concerns about the overall governance of the service which affected patient care and how well the service was operating.

“Records and clinical audits weren’t carried out appropriately meaning there was no way to show patient information was being accurately recorded. This puts people at risk of harm as not all staff may have access to important information about their needs.

“There were no recruitment processes in place to check if trained and experienced staff were being employed, and instead relied upon people’s substantive employment within an NHS trust as suitable experience.

“The service also relied upon employees’ previous employment for any necessary training but there was no formal process to identify any gaps. For example, it hadn’t been identified that someone employed from outside the NHS hadn’t completed mandatory training required for their role.

"This put people at risk of being treated by staff who did not have the skills and experience to care for them.

“Following the inspection, the provider took immediate action to ensure staff recruitment checks met the necessary requirements.

“It was also concerning that managers didn’t investigate or empower staff to learn from incidents internally and instead directed staff to escalate incidents using the reporting system of the host trust.

“We will continue to monitor the service and expect to see rapid improvements and we will inspect again to ensure this is the case.”

Despite the rating, inspectors also found the service to be inclusive and said patients could access the service when they needed it and received the right care promptly.

There was also enough staff to keep patients safe and "management had created a culture that respected, supported and valued their staff". 

In response to the CQC's findings, a spokesperson for InPhase said: "We were, of course, extremely disappointed with the inspection outcome and as a trusted supplier of staffed diagnostic services to the NHS we are doing all that we can to correct the office compliance concerns raised by the CQC. 

"We have a fantastic, highly skilled complement of NHS-derived staff who have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic to keep waiting lists down for patients requiring MRI scans.

"We have an exemplary patient safety record and have had nothing but positive feedback from our 7,400+ patients to date.

"We put patients at the heart of everything we do and we are very proud of the clinical service that our vastly experienced staff deliver daily."

They added: "Unfortunately, the CQC were unable to inspect/rate 2 of the 5 standards, namely 'caring' and 'effective' due the Omicron wave of the pandemic.

"They were forced to cancel all inspection activity of our clinical site over Christmas/New Year and were unable to speak to our staff. The inspection team have given the directorate until March 31 to address any specific elements of office compliance. 

"We have raised our own concerns with regard to the fragmented and incomplete nature of the inspection process and we hope to be re-inspected in full within the next three months as per the advised CQC criteria."