are now carried out by private companies. some services diagnose problems while others sell souvenir images and videos. but the profession of those scanning women is unregulated, leading some to question the quality of services. rianna croxford investigates the growth of private baby scanning studios. at first, i was doing them every two weeks. it's an industry that's thriving. having the reassurance from private scans has literally got me through. many women say they help, but is there a risk of false reassurance? that's what i specifically paid for, to check for ectopic and they got it so wrong. we investigate concerns about how scanning studios operate... to embark on a scan of a woman who's been bleeding is appalling. ..go inside a company whatsapp group which reviews scans... i knew something was wrong straightaway. i didn't know what to do. . . hear from a whistle—blower who

claims problems will be missed... they want to be all singing, all dancing, medical checks, pictures, and it can't be done in a five to eight minute scan. ..and ask whether there needs to be change. regulation is needed now. we're seeing a huge expansion of these clinics. on our high streets, one business is booming. for many women, pregnancy can be a really anxious time and they're keen to check on their baby's health. the nhs provides two scans unless there is a clinical need for more. but more than 200 businesses now offer a solution — reassurance scans. hope thought she'd

struggle to have children because of previous ill—health. hey! hey, how are you doing? good, thank you. she said it made her especially anxious when she became pregnant. how have you been feeling? yeah, not so bad. you feel like you're dreaming a little bit. ijust couldn't believe it. it was like such a big gift and then i thought, what if this doesn't last? she's now six months pregnant and has had five private scans costing between £60 and £100 each. i've put all the pictures all over my wall. he is literally, like, but last thing i see at night and the first thing i see in the morning. she says being able to bring her boyfriend along to the private ones, unlike nhs scans, has made a real difference. it's been the most relieving, relieving experience ever. i would go in quite tense, i would have the most sleepless night before just with pure worry, so when you then come out of that and you know everything's 0k, like... and i would say, i feel pretty relieved for maybe a good couple of days,

up to a week, and then the cycle then starts again. do you feel like the private scans reduce or increase your anxiety? i get what you mean, is it reinforcing the anxiety? but i found the relief, being able to just sleep at night and not worry even just for one night was just worth it, just to know that everything was ok today. scans are carried out by sonographers. anyone can call themselves one. it's not a regulated profession like being a midwife. companies offer a variety of services including the chance to get souvenir images or video, to find out the gender or check for abnormalities. my children could have been without a mother. carrie—anne felt anxious after recognising pregnancy symptoms having undergone a sterilising procedure. she was worried about her increased risk of

an ectopic pregnancy where the foetus grows outside the womb and so booked a scan at a studio run by window to the womb in lisburn. it is contradicting itself. foetus absent and normal libe pregnancy. live pregnancy. even though the foetus couldn't be seen during the scan and despite her history, the studio recorded a normal pregnancy. a day later, she began bleeding and went to the nhs. so i explain to the hospital that i had been for a private ectopic scan and that everything was fine, it wasn't ectopic, so they did rescan me and they didn't pick up the ectopic either, so i was home, believing that i was miscarrying. the bleeding continued. two weeks later, she was sent to a&e. my fallopian tubes had ruptured and my stomach had filled with blood. i was hours from death. so there was no miscarriage, it was an ectopic pregnancy. the company says it's unable to comment due to legal proceedings.

revealing the ba by‘s gender has become a big part of many pregnancies. party gifts is an industry worth tens of millions of pounds. go! we spoke into a woman who attended a scan with window to the womb in salford to check her baby's well—being and record its genderfor a party. we've learned the company identified a serious abnormality incompatible with life where part or all of the foetus‘s head is missing called anencephaly. but rather than refer her immediately to hospital and provide a medical report, the woman was told the baby's head couldn't be fully seen and recommended to book an nhs anomaly scan. it was absolutely immoral. it was disgusting. they let this poor girl leave and then go to a gender reveal party, name the baby, open gifts and that baby couldn't live. they even gave the little girl a teddy bear with the heartbeat of her little sister. she only found out when she showed

the scan images to a family friend who is an experienced stenographer. i saw the pictures in front of me and the abnormality was so obvious and so grotesque, i couldn't believe my eyes, in all honesty. i had to break the news that that baby couldn't live. i had to do that over the telephone and they were hysterical, absolutely hysterical. window to the womb have said all their staff are registered with the health and care professions council, but we found the sonographer who conducted the scan was not. at the time, the mother wrote to the company saying, "i feel betrayed, distraught and lost for words." the company apologised. it says the sonographer left shortly afterwards and the incident led to best practice being reinforced across its branches. available from 15 weeks plus... some companies say they are not medical and don't diagnose problems. one of these, called meet your miracle, advertises

reassurance scans which it says visualise well—being. we have been passed to these messages from the company's whatsapp group which show sonographers and management sharing and discussing customer scans, sometimes during appointments. any ideas at all? i have asked her outside. one sonographer told the group she felt guilty after having to let a woman leave without telling her about a possible serious abnormality. i knew something was wrong straightaway, didn't know what to do. i feel terrible at saying nothing and i'm racked with guilt for not saying anything. despite being a non—medical company, we've been told women are accepted for scans who are bleeding and in pain rather than being recommended to visit the nhs first. the company says it's scans are largely recreational and under its registration, it cannot discuss any concerns unless they are relevant to the baby's heartbeat. it says it advises women bleeding and in pain to attend the nhs, but its service detecting a heartbeat

is invaluable in reducing anxiety. other companies do advertise medical scans which diagnose abnormalities. window to the womb is one of the biggest. these leaked internal documents show that three spina bifida cases were missed in a single week in may. the mistakes were clearly visible according to the compa ny‘s directors. they described the cases as a pattern of similar and serious errors which confirm that the sonographers are not thoroughly checking all elements of the babies‘ development. this whistle—blower has worked as a sonographer in a number of branches alongside herjob in the nhs. there's so many women. it's like a conveyor belt. there's been near misses already. she claims working conditions mean problems will be missed. they want to be all singing, all dancing, medical checks, pictures, and it can't be done in a five to eight minute scan and it can't be done effectively when you've already done 30. you would never do a medical scan in the nhs with all those distractions going on. it's really important that a sonographer is able to concentrate

and not have somebody try to sell the customer a teddy bear. pregnancy can be overly anxious time for many women. pregnancy can be a really anxious time for many women. what's wrong if they need that extra reassurance? there's nothing wrong with extra reassurance, but what i'm finding is that they're wanting it earlier and earlier. you know, they offer scans from six weeks when it's a bit hit and miss if you can even see anything that you can relate to. so then it's back for another scan and then maybe another and then a gender scan. the company says it conducts more than 100,000 scans a year and human error can occur. it said is—minute appointments are the same length used by some nhs trusts and are not full anomaly scans. we wanted to see what people made of their service. many positive reviews are left online. what an incredible, stunning place... but we found that the owner of multiple branches using their own facebook accounts to praise studio is. to praise studios.

and this is the standard for ultrasound clinics to aspire to, five stars. thank you so much for your amazing review, mark. we've also discovered one of the company's directors posting reviews saying... really impressed how the clinic is keeping everyone safe during the coronavirus outbreak. the same image is used on his facebook profile. we asked window to the womb why managers hadn't disclosed their connection to the company. it said it recognised that a handful of these reviews do not link with appointments and planned to remove them immediately. we showed our evidence to an expert in ultrasound. telling somebody to leave without telling them there's something wrong is... it's appalling, really. jacqueline torrington has over 20 years‘ experience scanning. my fallopian tubes had ruptured and my stomach had filled with blood. i was hours from death. a lady with an ectopic, that is horrifying. i mean, that is so dangerous. nothing about this

report actually adds up. foetus absent and normal, live pregnancy. that's completely contradictory. it's a very striking catalogue of incredibly poor practice. it ranges from incredibly dangerous to anxiety inducing and all of it is... ..wrong. the care quality commission is responsible for regulating the services companies provide, but we found branches that have not been inspected since opening four years ago and learned it doesn't review samples of scans as part of inspections. in a statement, it says there is good quality care in the industry as a whole but it has a growing concern. the government says the majority of sonographers are qualified nurses or radiographers, experts in interpreting imagery say regulation of sonographers is needed. you're doing the most difficult

scans at the trickiest time for the most anxious group of people on a workforce who do not necessarily know their level of skills, their level of expertise and what training they've actually had. many staff at these companies working as radiographers and midwives will be regulated, so why does any of this matter? it matters now because of the massive increase in these companies. if you said to most members of the public, do you realise that some of the people scanning you actually do not have an easy way of demonstrating that expertise? i think the mums would be surprised. problems in pregnancy are rare, but women who have experienced them say it's vital private scans do not lead to false reassurance. it has put an effect on mine and my husband's relationship because it's something that... i don't know, could it happen again? will it happen again? and can i trust anybody's judgment that it's not going to happen? you know? it was just so close and it's one of them things

that thank god i came out the other side, but how wrong could this go for somebody else? hello and welcome to sportsday. i'mjohn watson. i'm john watson. our headlines tonight. somejonny may magic proves the difference as england beat ireland in the autumn nations cup it's been a double header at twickenham today — as england's women leave it late against france spurs spring a surprise beating city to top the pl table tonight.

and is it thiem's time at the atp tour finals as he ends the run of the world number one? good evening. england wingerjonny may produced a stunning solo try as they beat ireland in their second autumn nations cup match at twickenham. he crossed over twice in the 18 points to 7 victory, which leaves england top of their group and on course to compete for the title on the finals weekend. joe lynskey reports. every year, test match rugby lights up the autumn, but with twickenham silent, england players say now it's down to them to make a spectacle. so here wasjonny may.

before today, he'd gone five england games without a try. for him, that's a long wait. so, having just scored the opener, he then set off by himself. one man to beat... from deep in his own half, he kicked and weaved his way to the ireland line. his 31st england try means only rory underwood has more. and extraordinary score and an exhausted player. two tries were all england needed. they topped up their lead through the bit of owen farrell. he was scoring points against his dad, the ireland coach. their winning forms since lockdown has been built on a tough defence. ireland broke through eventually, but by then it was too late. this will go down as one of twickenham's great tries. for england rugby in november, it was all about may. wales ended their six match losing streak, one of their worst runs in history, by beating georgia 18—0 in llanelli.