High street clinics offering pregnancy scans could be putting unborn babies and their mothers at risk due to a lack of properly trained staff, UK experts have warned. The Society for Radiographers (SoR) reports a surge in such clinics, but hospital specialists have documented cases of missed health problems, misdiagnosed conditions, and women being erroneously told their babies had died or were malformed.
Katie Thompson, a hospital sonographer and president of the SoR, described a case where a clinic measured a bleed in the womb but missed an early pregnancy sac with a baby inside it. She warned that if such a clinic offered miscarriage services, the woman could have been given medication to induce a miscarriage on a pregnancy that was not miscarrying.
The SoR has also seen cases where private clinics wrongly diagnosed ectopic pregnancies or missed them entirely, misdiagnosed cervical problems, and failed to detect abnormalities such as spina bifida or polycystic kidneys. Elaine Brooks, a former hospital sonographer and SoR regional officer, noted that some women attended their 20-week NHS scan after a private 'sexing' scan a week earlier, only to find major abnormalities that should have been picked up.
Currently, anyone can buy an ultrasound machine and set up a practice without qualifications. Thompson highlighted cases of individuals scanning from their front rooms after having a baby themselves, and even a sonographer struck off for sexual misconduct being employed in a private clinic. The SoR is calling for sonographer to become a protected title, restricted to qualified practitioners registered with a regulatory body.
The Department of Health and Social Care acknowledged that sonography is not legally regulated but noted that sonographers can voluntarily join the Register of Clinical Technologists. A spokesperson said the government is committed to ensuring appropriate regulation for all health and care professions and will consider proposals from professional bodies.
