Warning over high street baby scans giving ‘dangerous advice’

Some high-profile clinics are putting lives at risk by allowing unqualified professionals to scan children, the Society of Radiologists (SoR) has warned.

The union says its members have seen examples of pregnant women being misdiagnosed with serious illnesses and given dangerous advice.

Other expectant mothers have been sent to hospital after being told an abnormality would mean they would have to terminate their pregnancies, only to discover their baby was completely healthy.

He is concerned that anyone using an ultrasound machine can call themselves a sonographer and offer the service – often marketed as a sedative, souvenir or sexy scan – ahead of a routine 20-week NHS check.

“One day a woman came to us [to hospital] from a private clinic, eight or nine weeks pregnant,” says Elaine Brooks, SoR Midlands regional officer.

“An employee at a private clinic said there was no heartbeat and the baby was very ugly, so she was sent for an induced miscarriage.

“We started scanning a woman who was in tears and the scan showed an obviously beautiful nine-week pregnancy with a heartbeat. Everything was absolutely normal.”

A A BBC investigation in 2020 found similar misdiagnosis of serious medical problems. during a private baby scan.

There were reports of women with bleeding and pain being taken for examination rather than being advised to see a doctor.

The union, which is also a professional body for medical imaging, says it has seen other examples of poor practice from some private clinics, including:

• No major fetal anomalies such as spina bifida or polycystic kidney disease.
• An ectopic pregnancy, in which a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, is either undiagnosed or misdiagnosed.
• A radiologist continues to work as a private sonographer despite being sacked and banned from working in the NHS due to sexual harassment.

SoR president Katie Thompson said there were some “really good” private services offering checks with properly trained staff, but she was particularly concerned about the rise in pop-up clinics in shopping centers and high streets selling souvenir images or scans to determine the baby's gender.

She said she knew of one other case where a private scan late in pregnancy did not show the baby was still breech or lying first in the womb. The mother was not immediately referred to the National Health Service and the child later died.

The SoR is now calling for a sonographer to become a protected position in the UK in the same way as a nutritionist, podiatrist, art therapist or radiologist.

This will mean that only those who are suitably qualified and registered with the regulator will be able to use this job description.

Many private sonographers are already qualified midwives or radiographers, and specialist training courses are also available, although this is not currently a legal requirement.

Thompson says expectant mothers should ask their private practice whether their staff have completed a Consortium for Sonography Education (CASE) accredited course.

Patients can also carry out other basic checks – asking how long the practice has been operating, for example whether it is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in England and when it was last inspected by the regulator.

Thompson also suggests checking reviews and asking friends, family, midwives and GPs for advice and recommendations.

Individual sonographers may decide to join Clinical Technologist Registrywhich the public can then review to see if certain standards have been met, but again, participation is voluntary.

The Health and Social Care Professional Standards Authority recently carried out a public interest review of the register and wrote to the government that “the risks appear sufficiently high” that it should consider whether sonographers should be better regulated.

The CQC said many clinics provide quality care, but it “remains concerned that some do not” due to concerns about staff training, consent policies and procedures for escalating unusual findings.

In cases where audits reveal problems, the company said it would “hold suppliers accountable and make clear that action is required to ensure staff are adequately trained.”

In a statement, the Ministry of Health said patient safety is of paramount importance and the regulation of all health care workers is monitored.

“We will carefully consider any proposals from professional bodies in this regard,” the spokesman added.