Archived: Urgent GP Clinic

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at the Urgent GP Clinic on 1 March 2017. Overall the service is rated as good.

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

• The service had clearly defined and embedded systems and processes in place to keep people safe and safeguarded from abuse. There were effective arrangements in place to the support processes for identifying, recording and managing risks.

• Evidence demonstrated that the service effectively managed incidents and significant incidents, which were communicated to staff by email.
• 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, and the urgent care centre staff provided other services (for example, the patient’s GP or the hospital) with information following contact to ensure continuity of care.
• We observed the premises to be visibly clean and tidy. There was an infection control policy in place and a named lead for infection control concerns who liaised with the lead from the hospital.

• A programme of continuous case audits and prescribing reviews was in place, findings were used to monitor quality and to make improvements.
• Information about services and how to complain was available. Improvements were made to the quality of care as a result of complaints and concerns.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• The service had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• 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 the requirements of the duty of candour. Examples we reviewed showed the service complied with these requirements.

The areas where the provider must make improvement are:

• Ensure review of clinical governance systems and process for clinical quality assurance to ensure effectiveness for patients, introduce auditing of clinical data and patient feedback systems and act on the findings.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP

Chief Inspector of General Service