Coronavirus Update
Supporting Our Patients During COVID-19 Outbreak
The coronavirus pandemic has fundamentally changed the way we all live our lives in order to keep everyone safe. Since the start of the outbreak, we have been working really hard to ensure we can continue to support our patients in the safest way possible and to limit the non-essential elements of our service offering.
All of our scans are completed by highly trained and registered healthcare professionals who are experts in obstetric ultrasound. We utilise the very latest generation of ultrasound equipment to ensure we can provide you with the most accurate diagnostic results.
How are we managing the Coronavirus outbreak?
Infection control and PPE
We are working within Public Health England (PHE) guidelines by ensuring all of our scan rooms are deep cleaned between appointments. All of our staff have been provided with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and we are offering hand sanitiser and gloves to all of our patients upon arrival.
We have limited the number of clinic staff in the clinic at any one time to reduce the risk of transmission and to increase the distance between people in our clinics. It is important that patients attend their appointments on their own. You may bring one adult companion, only is absolutely necessary, and we are unable to accept children in our clinics at this time. If this position changes your local clinic will contact you before your appointment by email/SMS. If you have any queries about this please speak directly to your local clinic.
Limited Service Offering
We have restructured our current service offering during the Coronavirus outbreak to ensure all scans are completed only for a medical need. All extra services offered in addition to our core diagnostic offering, such as 3D/4D rendering, have been temporarily suspended.
Our early pregnancy service (firstScan) is continuing to provide scans to our patients from 6 weeks to 15 completed weeks.
We have created a temporary service called ‘Fetal Health Scan’ which is currently the only service available from 16 weeks to 42 weeks.
Should I attend a scan?
Patients should only attend for a medical need. Examples include (but are not limited to):
- Abdominal pain,
- bleeding,
- previous history of miscarriage,
- previous history of ectopic pregnancy
- and reassurance about fetal development (where you have a genuine concern)
If you, or any member of your household, have developed any coronavirus symptoms (such as a fever or cough) you must not attend your scan appointment. Please contact your local clinic to rearrange your appointment until after the transmission period (usually 14 days).
Maternity Care in Hospital
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) have expressed the importance of continuing to receive antenatal care during the Coronavirus outbreak:
“It is really important that you continue to attend your scheduled routine care when you are well. If you have symptoms of possible coronavirus infection, you should contact your midwife to postpone routine visits until after the isolation period is over.”
Additional Support
We are keeping the Care Quality Commission (CQC) updated with all changes during the outbreak.
We are continuing to follow the guidance from PHE and RCOG.
We are listed on the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) catalogue for Coronavirus suppliers to offer our support to the public sector.
We are working with a number (but not all) NHS trusts to adjust our referral pathways and adapt our services to best support trusts at a local level.