Safety concerns raised over High Street private pregnancy scans

Pregnant women who attend private ultrasound scans are being urged to check their sonographer’s qualifications, amid warnings that untrained practitioners in high street baby scan clinics could be putting women and unborn babies at risk.

The Society of Radiographers (SoR) told STV News that fetal abnormalities, complications and ectopic pregnancies are being missed or misdiagnosed.

It is calling for “sonographer” to become a protected title, with tighter regulation of private providers.

While anyone calling themselves a radiographer, dietician, art therapist or occupational therapist must be qualified and registered with a regulatory body, anyone with an ultrasound machine can currently call themselves a sonographer.

The SoR says this has led to a proliferation of high street clinics offering pregnancy scans, with no guarantee that the scan will be carried out by someone trained to properly read and interpret the results – potentially putting mothers and babies in danger.

Private scans are popular with parents-to-be

Gender and early reassurance scans are among the most popular with parents-to-be.

Lauren, who has been a qualified radiographer and sonographer for 11 years and also works in the NHS, says she is trained to recognise signs that need urgent medical attention.

She told STV News: “We have a good look at the baby, and if we saw anything we were worried about, we would always refer them to the hospital.

“Everyone who works in the NHS is obviously qualified, but there are people coming from different avenues now.”

Lauren, who runs Mini Me 4D Baby Scan Clinic, added: “I think the problem lies when people are able to open up private clinics that don’t have those qualifications.

“I don’t know of any of those in Scotland, but that’s not to say there isn’t any.”

At present, sonographer is not a protected title, meaning anyone with an ultrasound machine can use it.

“They might be able to tell you the gender of the baby, but if there’s a problem, such as, I don’t want to scaremonger, but spina bifida, you know, things we check for at the 20-week scan, they might not pick up on that.

“And obviously that’s something that you want to be referred to the NHS for straight away.

“I would say if you’re thinking about booking a private scan and you’re not sure about the clinic, look it up on the website.

“If it doesn’t tell you if the person’s qualified, then give them a wee phone.”

Lauren runs Mini Me 4D Baby Scan Clinic. STV News

Current system puts women and unborn babies at risk

The Society of Radiographers says gaps in the current system remain and could be putting pregnant women and unborn babies at risk.

Katie Thompson, president of the SoR, said: “The main risk is them not being aware that this person might not be appropriately trained and the advice they’re giving them might not be current or up-to-date.

“Women and babies have come to harm, with the lack of regulation. One person having a dreadful experience and any people in the future is too many.”

Julie Morrison says she is hearing about these experiences more often. She set up her charity – Baby Loss Retreat – after her daughter Erin was stillborn at 37 weeks.

She says that in recent years, there has been an increase in parents seeking early private scans and encountering problems.

Julie told STV News: “When we were talking about it, it was more about wrong information being given, wrong diagnosis, saying that the baby had no heartbeat, to then being transferred to the hospital to say that the baby had a heartbeat.

“And that’s quite traumatic for a family, especially having been through baby loss beforehand.

“I would rather it dealt with just now before we actually get to that stage because the impact of that can have a lot of trauma on families.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Ultrasound scans are an important part of antenatal care, and all women are offered a minimum of two NHS scans during pregnancy. Some may be offered more scans if there is a medical reason to do so.

“We recommend that anyone choosing to have scans elsewhere, for any purpose, should choose a service registered with Healthcare Improvement Scotland.

“The Scottish Government are engaging with Healthcare Improvement Scotland regarding the next phase of regulation of independent healthcare.”

Radiographers are not currently able to register with Healthcare Improvement Scotland.

“Nurses and midwives are able to register with them,” Lauren told STV News.

“However, I’m a radiographer, and I’m registered with HCPC, and we’re not allowed to register with Healthcare Improvement Scotland at the moment.

“I don’t know if that will change in the future. That wouldn’t be something that you need to look out for when you’re booking a private scan because it’s not possible.

“The main point is to look for qualifications – make sure they’ve got a qualification and an ultrasound. That’s the bottom line.”