Archived: Bay Urgent Care

Updated 20 July 2018

PDS Medical is registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide out of hours GP appointments to patients in the Lancaster area from one location:

• Bay Urgent Care, Royal Lancaster Infirmary, Ashton Road, Lancaster, LA1 4RP

We visited this location during our inspection.

PDS Medical is registered with the CQC to deliver the following regulated activities from Bay Urgent Care in Lancaster: Diagnostic and screening procedures; Transport services; triage and medical advice provided remotely; Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

Patients can access the service via the 111 telephone service. The service is based in the Royal Lancaster Infirmary, on the ground floor close to the Emergency Department. They have appropriate access for patients with limited mobility. It operates seven days a week at the following times:

• Monday to Friday – 6.30pm to 10pm
• Saturday (and Bank Holidays) – 9am to 9pm
• Sunday - 9am to 8.30pm

Together with the out-of-hours service operated by PDS Medical in Morecambe, Bay Urgent Care is accessed by an average of 330 patients per week, both at the service locations and for home visits.

The service is commissioned by Morecambe Bay Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to provide out-of-hours GP appointments to approximately 140,000 registered patients in the CCG. The geographical area covered by the service includes Morecambe, Lancaster and Carnforth and a range of urban and rural areas. It is a mixed population, with parts of Morecambe and Lancaster being considered areas of high deprivation. In general, people living in more deprived areas tend to have greater need for health services. Approximately 28% of the population is made up of university students.

The service employs three GPs, six nurse practitioners, eight drivers (four of whom also work as receptionists overnight) and eight receptionists across the sites in Lancaster and Morecambe. There is also a service manager and assistant service manager, as well as a central management team and a board of directors at PDS Medical. The service also employs sessional GPs and nurses.

Updated 20 July 2018

This service is rated as Good overall.

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Bay Urgent Care in Lancaster on 23 May 2018 as part of our inspection programme.

At this inspection we found:

• The service had good systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When they did happen, the service learned from them and improved their processes.
• The service routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.
• Staff involved and treated people with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• Patients were able to access care and treatment from the service within an appropriate timescale for their needs.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Make information about how to complain available to patients in the waiting area.
• Continue to work towards completing appraisals for all staff.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP
Chief Inspector of General Practice