Northampton clinic with no waiting lists praised by inspectors

Pavilion Clinic, which is part of the BMI Three Shires Hospital site in The Avenue, performs x-rays, ultrasound and MRI scans. Although privately-run, almost half of the hospital's patients are NHS funded.

A short-notice inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) found that there was in effect a zero-day waiting list.

The report says: "All referrals were scheduled an appointment on the same day as receipt in the department.

"This meant that there was no waiting list, with all referrals allocated an appointment slot within 24 hours of receipt of referral."

There was more praise from the watchdog for Pavilion Clinic staff, who were universally lauded by all the patients who were quizzed.

The report says: "Staff cared for patients with compassion and provided emotional support. All feedback from patients was positive and described a caring and friendly service."

Even when mistakes were made, patients seemed satisfied with how their cases were handled afterwards.

The report says: "The service managed patient safety incidents well. Incidents were investigated and staff shared lessons learned with the whole team and the wider service. When things went wrong, staff apologised and gave patients honest information and suitable support."

The only area with which the CQC found fault was that mandatory training compliance was not completed by all staff in the majority of categories. The clinic has been told make some improvements in this regard.