Service inspections: single specialty services

This covers those services that provide diagnostic imaging or endoscopy as their sole or main service.

Diagnostic imaging

This includes all areas where people:

• undergo physiological measurements and diagnostic testing
• receive diagnostic test results

Diagnostic imaging includes imaging services and screening procedures, such as X-rays, fluoroscopy, MRIs, PET, CT and DEXA scans, ultrasound (including baby ultrasound that is not part of a maternity service), nuclear medicine scans, and mammography.

Endoscopy

When inspecting single specialty endoscopy services, we will look at procedures carried out within an endoscopy unit, including:

• oesophago-gastro- duodenoscopy (OGD)
• small bowel enteroscopy
• colonoscopy
• sigmoidoscopies
• capsule endoscopy
• endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)
• endoscopic retrograde cholangio-pancreatography (ERCP)
• bronchoscopy

When inspecting single specialty endoscopy services, the definition excludes services that include medical consultations carried out in an outpatient setting using endoscopes without a channel to pass fluid or instruments through, such as a fibre optic (flexible) nasoendoscope, or a fibre optic (flexible) rhinolaryngoscope. It also excludes consultations that include examination with the use of a rigid sigmoidoscope.

This applies to single specialty independent services providing dialysis for patients with kidney failure as their sole or main service.

This applies where the sole or main service is providing hyperbaric oxygen therapy or treatment for the purpose of treating a disease, disorder or injury. Not all hyperbaric services are required to register with CQC; for example those provided to employees in connection with their work, or those that are not provided or supervised by specific types of healthcare professionals.

Long-term conditions: neurological rehabilitation and long-term care

This applies where the provider’s sole or main service is typically providing facilities, medical treatment, rehabilitation and care of people with neurological conditions or disabilities, and acquired brain injuries. These hospitals can offer very long lengths of stay and are different to acute, community or mental health hospitals. Inspections of these hospitals are likely to involve community and mental health care professionals, as well as acute and specialist practitioners.

This applies to providers that carry out vision correction services using surgical procedures as their sole or main service. This type of service is ordinarily provided for self-referring, self-pay patients and is mostly elective surgery and not funded by the NHS or private medical insurers. The service may also include laser eye surgery, refractive lens surgery, refractive lens exchange (RLE) and intraocular lens implants (IOLs).

This applies where termination of pregnancy is provided as the sole or main service. For a description of this service please refer to the definition of service in the acute section.

Where these single specialty services also provide male sterilisation, this will be considered within the inspection of the overall termination of pregnancy service.

We also inspect the following single specialty services:

• blood and transplant services
• laboratories