PETCT Mobile Services

On this page

• Overview
• Kindness, compassion and dignity
• Treating people as individuals
• Independence, choice and control
• Responding to people’s immediate needs
• Workforce wellbeing and enablement

CARING We assessed the following: kindness, compassion and dignity, treating people as individuals, independence, choice and control, responding to people’s immediate needs, and workforce wellbeing and enablement. Kindness, compassion and dignity: Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, and respected their privacy and dignity. Treating people as individuals: Staff treated people as individuals, their individual needs were taken into consideration during their treatment. Independence, choice and control: Staff spoke to patients to find out what support they needed to promote their independence. Responding to people’s immediate needs: Staff responded to people’s immediate needs by working to reduce the time patients needed to wait to be seen, ensuring they were comfortable and offering them reassurance. Workforce wellbeing and enablement: The service promoted staff wellbeing through a variety of wellbeing resources and wellbeing events.

This service scored 80 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

Patients said staff treated them well and with kindness. We spoke with 6 patients who told us the care they received was good.

Staff told us they worked to ensure patients received kind and compassionate care. They said it was important to them that patients experienced a good standard of care and felt they had been treated with compassion. Staff said they did not like to rush patients and they wanted to give them as much opportunity to ask questions as possible. Staff told us they understood the emotional and social impact that a person’s care, treatment or condition had on their wellbeing and on those close to them. They understood patients’ anxiety and uncertainty and that they needed to always respond with kindness and compassion.

Partners provided positive feedback about the relationships between trust and the provider’s staff. They also told us feedback from patients was very good.

Staff were discreet and responsive when caring for patients. Staff took time to interact with patients in a respectful and considerate way. All of the care we saw was kind, compassionate and promoted patients’ dignity.

All the patients we spoke to told us staff had explained the procedure and told them what would happen next. Patients told us staff introduced themselves and were polite and friendly. They also told us they had time to ask questions. Patients said they had received information about what to expect at their appointment including leaflets that included a step-by-step guide of what would happen at the appointment.

Patients who were claustrophobic could request to have a dry run so they knew what to expect and to see if they could tolerate the scan. They could also request to be scanned feet first. This was not the standard procedure, but staff would arrange for this to help to reduce patients' anxiety. Carers could accompany patients during their injection of radiotracer and later help to settle patients on the scanner. There was not enough room for carers to wait with the patient in the uptake room and it would increase their exposure to radioactivity. Staff said once the injection was over patients normally settled quickly. The initial booking of appointments was done by telephone and patients were asked if they had any special needs or requirements to ensure these could be managed by staff. Patients were contacted and offered the next available appointment, if this was not suitable, they were offered an appointment on a day and time to suit them. Staff held a safety huddle at the start of each day. This included discussing the needs of patients on the list to ensure they had the correct support available. For example, patients with dementia or a learning disability who may need extra time for their appointment, or wheelchair users who would need to use the lift to access the unit. Staff knew how to arrange for an interpreter for people whose first language was not English. Appointment letters and information booklets could be sent in braille. The provider could access British Sign Language and Makaton interpreters. Staff received training in how to support patients with a learning disability and/or autism, and training in how to support patients with dementia. They told us they would give these patients extra time to ask questions and be reassured.

We saw patient leaflets about radiation and radiopharmaceuticals. The leaflets gave patients information to make an informed choice about consenting to their scan, and explained the examination, without overloading them with information. The leaflets were normally emailed to patients. The building was fully accessible for wheelchair users. There was a lift at the side of each mobile unit. However, patients needed to be able to manoeuvre themselves onto the scanner couch to be able to use the mobile service offered by the provider. We saw that patients were given forms to complete that asked for their preferred names and pronouns so that these could be used throughout the appointment. We saw staff asking patients what support they needed to get on and off a couch instead of assuming they needed help. We saw staff answering patient’s questions and providing them with reassurance.

Patients were asked to provide feedback on their care through a patient satisfaction survey emailed to them following their scan. Patients who did not have an email address were sent a paper copy of the survey. In the 12 months before our inspection the response rate was between 12 and 15% each month which amounted to 2031 responses over the year. The overall satisfaction level across PET-CT Mobile Services was 95.8%, with 78.4% of patients surveyed being very satisfied. The provider received some feedback about the service through the monthly NHS Friends and Family Test. In the 12 months before our inspection feedback showed between 90 and 95% of patients would recommend the service to their friends or family if they needed similar care or treatment. Between 1 and 6% of patients said they were neither likely or unlikely to recommend the service and only 1 to 4% of patients said they would be unlikely to recommend the service.

Patients told us staff asked if they had communication or mobility problems so they could provide support if needed. Patients said they were provided with a map of the hospital site so they knew how to find the PET-CT mobile unit.

Staff told us they would always ask patients what support they needed to promote their independence rather than helping without asking. Staff made sure patients had time to ask questions and checked they understood what was going to happen next.

The provider had a diversity and equality policy to ensure the Accessible Information Standard (2016) was met for patients who had a disability or sensory loss. The standard gives these patients a right to access information in a format that they can understand and are supported in their communication needs.

Patients told us staff had spent time talking through their anxieties about the scan procedure. They told us staff helped them to get comfortable in the uptake room and on the scanner bed, for example, by offering extra pillows. Patients told us staff checked in with them to see if they needed to use the toilet or wanted some bottled water.

Staff told us if patients were very anxious they would be advised to see their GP prior to their scan to request a mild sedative. The service asked all patients thought to be of child bearing age when they had their last menstrual period. This was to ensure inclusivity of all patients. Patients had been unable to eat or drink anything other than plain water in the 6 hours before their scan. Patients continued to be offered plain water while on the mobile unit. They were also offered bottled water to take away with them as well as a small packet of biscuits. Patients with diabetes were advised to bring a snack to their appointment so they could have something to eat as soon as possible after their scan.

We observed a patient and a staff member talking through the procedure. The member of staff took time to ensure all questions were answered and that the patient felt reassured. In newer mobile units, like the 1 we saw at the Queen Elizebeth Hospital site, there was dimmable ambient lighting in the uptake rooms. This was to help patients relax while they were waiting for their scan. There were tablets connected to an online streaming service so patients could listen to their favourite music. The chairs reclined so patients could relax. In the scan room there was an image of a large skylight on the ceiling so that patients had something pleasant to look at during their scan. This image was also designed to create a connection to the outdoors, especially for patients who experienced claustrophobia.

Staff told us they had wellbeing champions throughout the organisation. There was an employee assistance programme that staff could self-refer themselves to. The team had daily morning huddles where all staff checked in and discussed anything that needed to be taken into account, for example, attending a medical appointment. The provider had a staff forum. There were a number of staff representatives to listen to the views of staff and take these to the regular employee representative forum, the items discussed at this forum were fed up into the leadership governance meetings. Staff representatives were provided with training to carry out this role. Senior leaders told us that they took account of any additional needs staff might have and offered reasonable adjustments in the workplace to help them manage these. For example, if staff had caring responsibilities, health problems, or parental responsibilities they looked at what could be done to ensure staff were able to manage these alongside their work commitments. One example was a member of staff providing care for their parent with dementia, leaders made sure the member of staff only worked at locations close to their home so they could get back quickly if needed. If a member of staff, their family members, or close friends had a referral for a scan the staff member could request the scan be completed, free of charge, through the provider. This was to ensure peace of mind for the employee to enable them to maintain lower levels of stress.

There were processes in place to ensure that staff were supported with their wellbeing which enabled them to continue in their roles of providing care and treatment to patients. Staff had access to a virtual GP service to help staff access health care quickly and easily when they were away from home. This was particularly beneficial for internationally recruited staff especially before they had chance to register with a GP. The service also offered counselling appointments, including same day appointments if needed. Staff wellbeing was covered in the monthly governance meetings. To promote an inclusive and psychologically safe culture where all staff had a voice and could raise concerns safely the service had a freedom to speak up team. This included a freedom to speak up guardian and freedom to speak up champions to support staff speak up when they felt unable to deal with problems at work in other ways. There were processes to ensure staff recruited from overseas were given help to help them settle in the country. This included a 1-day welcome to the UK session that explained cultural norms, support to locate suitable accommodation, and a four-hour driving assessment through a national driving school. If the driving assessor found the individual needed further driving training the provider funded this. This staff group also received additional time to complete their induction to ensure their competencies were compliant with UK radiography standards, and a mentor for a period of 6 months. Mentors worked the same shifts as the individual, so they were always available to answer any work or home life related questions.