Archived: Urgent Care Centre - Scarborough

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at the Urgent Care Centre - Scarborough on 5 September 2017. The service provides a fully integrated Urgent Care Centre and Out-of-hours minor injuries and minor illness service. 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 in place for recording, reporting and learning from significant events.

• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.

• 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. Staff had access to and made use of e-learning training modules and in-house training.

• 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 as was 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 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. The service proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.

• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour (The duty of candour is a set of specific legal requirements that providers of services must follow when things go wrong with care and treatment).

  However there were areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

The provider should:

• Monitor that all staff were up to date with mandatory training refresher updates.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice