Archived: Brent Urgent Care

Updated 27 June 2017

Brent Urgent Care Centre (UCC) is commissioned by Brent Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to provide an urgent care service within the north west London borough of Brent. The service is located within the Central Middlesex Hospital (run by London North West Healthcare NHS Trust) and occupies the space of the former A&E department which closed in September 2014 and transferred to Northwick Park Hospital.

The service is provided by Care UK Clinical Services Limited which provides centralised governance for the service. On site the service is led by a service manager, a lead GP and a lead nurse who have oversight of the urgent care centre and a team of substantive and self-employed doctors, nurses, administration and reception staff.

The urgent care centre is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week including public holidays. No patients are registered at the service as it is designed to meet the needs of patients who have an urgent medical concern but do not require accident and emergency treatment, such as non-life threatening conditions. Patients attend on a walk-in basis. Patients can self-present or they may be directed to the service, for example by the NHS 111 or their own GP. Patients presenting to the service are ‘streamed’ by a clinical co-ordinator to determine the urgency and nature of their presenting complaint. The urgent care centre sees on average 740 patients per week.

Updated 27 June 2017

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Brent Urgent Care Centre (Care UK Clinical services Limited) on 16 March 2016. 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 to report and record significant events. Staff knew how to raise concerns and understood the need to report incidents.
• All incidents were recorded on the electronic incident recording system which enabled an organisation-wide overview. Learning was based on a thorough analysis and investigation of any errors and incidents.
• The provider maintained a risk register and held regular local and organisational governance meetings. Staff demonstrated that they understood their responsibilities and all had received training on safeguarding children and vulnerable adults relevant to their role.
• The provider was aware of the requirements of the duty of candour. Examples we reviewed showed the service complied with these requirements.
• The service had clearly defined and embedded systems to minimise risks to patient safety.
• Staff were aware of current evidence based guidance. Staff had been trained to provide them with the skills and knowledge to deliver effective care and treatment.
• Although the provider demonstrated a good understanding of the service’s performance and was meeting the majority of its performance targets, it had failed to achieve for a 12-month period the performance target to triage and determine the care pathways for children and adults within the specified timeframes.
• Patient feedback indicated that patients were treated with care and respect and were involved in decisions about their treatment.
• Information about services and how to complain was available. Improvements were made to the quality of care as a result of complaints and concerns.
• The service was accessible 24 hours every day. Patient feedback was positive about the ease of using the service and time taken to receive treatment.
• The service had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• There was a clear leadership structure at organisational and local level and staff told us they felt supported by management. The service proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.

The areas where the provider must make improvement are:

• Ensure failing performance targets are monitored and improved to mitigate the risks to the health and safety of patients receiving care and treatment.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

• Ensure all staff understand, and continue to understand, the fire evacuation plan.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice