Updated 30 May 2022
The Registered Provider is West Kent Primary Care Community Interest Company. Services are provided from:
- Hospice in the Weald, Maidstone Road, Pembury, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN2 4TA.
Services are provided by two GP’s, as well as eight nurses and an administration team.
Patients with a diagnosis of long-term Covid who still have symptoms after four to 12 weeks after a positive test, can be referred by their own GP to the Covid assessment/case management service. There is a tailored assessment framework in use. Pre-referral checks/tests must be completed by the GP or secondary care, before referrals to the service can be made. For example, Covid test results, blood tests, chest x-rays, frailty assessments, fitness to work assessments, cardiac risks/ and electrocardiogram (ECG). After the referral is received, the patient submits a questionnaire, which is then triaged. An assessment (either by video or telephone consultation) is then completed with the patient. Services are provided to patients aged 18 years or over. Where appropriate, patients are then discussed at twice weekly multi-disciplinary team (MDT) meetings, the outcome of which will be onward referral to an appropriate healthcare professional. For example, ear, nose and throat (ENT), neurology, cardiac, outpatients, respiratory specialists or for pulmonary rehab. Some patients may also be discharged back to their own GP, via an app called ‘Your Covid Recovery’. (An app is an application, downloaded by a user to a mobile device).
Opening times are Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, with some flexibility for patients who work during these hours (up to 6pm upon prior arrangement). The service does not provide emergency telephone support out of hours and has a referral arrangement with the patient’s own GP service should additional support be required.
How we inspected this service
Throughout the pandemic CQC has continued to regulate and respond to risk. However, taking into account the circumstances arising as a result of the pandemic, and in order to reduce risk, we have conducted our inspections differently.
This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site. This was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements.
This included:
- Conducting staff interviews.
- Requesting evidence from the provider.
- A short site visit to the service.
To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we always ask the following five questions:
- Is it safe?
- Is it effective?
- Is it caring?
- Is it responsive to people’s needs?
- Is it well-led?
These questions therefore formed the framework for the areas we looked at during the inspection.