The Care Quality Commission
  • Doctor
  • Independent doctor

Archived: Primecare - Primary Care - Hereford Hereford Out of Hours

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Rooms 36 & 37, Rural Enterprise Centre, Vincent Carey Road, Rotherwas, Hereford, Herefordshire, HR2 6FE (01432) 373662

Provided and run by:
Nestor Primecare Services Limited

All Inspections

24 May 2017 and 27 May 2017

During a routine inspection

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Primecare – Primary Care – Hereford on 24 May and 27 May 2017. Overall the service is rated as good.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

  • There was an open and transparent approach to safety and an effective system for recording, reporting and learning from significant events.

  • The service could not provide assurance that all GPs were trained to the appropriate level in safeguarding children and young people.

  • Patients’ care needs were assessed and delivered in a timely way according to need. The service met the National Quality Requirements.

  • Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance. Staff had been trained to provide them with the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.

  • There was a system in place that enabled staff access to patient records. The out of hours staff provided other services, for example the local GP and hospital, with information following contact with patients where appropriate.

  • The service managed patients’ care and treatment in a timely way.

  • Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.

  • Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand. Improvements were made to the quality of care as a result of complaints and concerns.

  • The service worked proactively with other organisations and providers to develop services that supported alternatives to hospital admission where appropriate and improved the patient experience.

  • The service had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs. The vehicles used for home visits were clean and well equipped.

  • There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management.

  • Patient feedback was not routinely obtained, recorded and reported by the provider on an ongoing basis.

  • The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.

The areas where the provider must make improvements are:

  • To ensure there are effective systems for all clinical staff to be trained to an appropriate level in safeguarding children and young people.

  • To ensure there are effective systems to seek and act on patient feedback in order to improve the quality of service.

The area where the provider should make improvements is:

  • To ensure there are systems to support a programme of continuous clinical improvement.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGPChief Inspector of General Practice

20, 21, 22 March 2013

During a routine inspection

We spoke with two families who were using the service. We also listened to recordings of telephone calls by doctors to assess the urgency of people's care and treatment needs. We had information that people who had used the service had received the care and treatment they needed. People appreciated that the service was available. All of the staff we had contact with treated people in a respectful way.

We found evidence that people were provided with care and treatment that met their needs. The service worked hard to respond to people's needs quickly and took into account how urgent each person's medical needs appeared to be. There were effective procedures to look at what had happened if something went wrong with anyone's care and treatment. We saw evidence that in such situations all necessary steps were taken to identify the reasons.

The service managers checked and monitored the doctors and nurses working for the service. This was to help make sure that their qualifications, skills and experience were appropriate to the work they were doing.

There were effective arrangements for child protection and adult safeguarding. Staff were trained to know how to respond if they suspected abuse or neglect.

There were effective management arrangements in place at the service. Senior managers worked closely with front line staff. These arrangements were supported by close monitoring by the Herefordshire NHS Primary Care Trust (PCT).