ON CALL DOCTORS NORTH-WEST LIMITED

Updated 11 September 2023

ON CALL DOCTORS NORTH-WEST LIMITED is provided from 8 Croft Court, Whitehills Business Park, Blackpool.

The service is an independent private general practitioner provided by a single male GP with administrative support from 1 member of staff. The service is registered with CQC to undertake the regulated activities of: diagnostic and screening procedures, treatment of disease, disorder or injury and family planning. Health services provided include consultations, examinations, health screening. mental health treatment, vaccinations and immunisations and sexual health services.

The majority of patients registering with the practice are local residents. The local population is 95% white with Asian and Eastern European most of the remaining 5%. Blackpool has a higher percentage of patients aged 50 to 80 than national averages.

ON CALL DOCTORS NORTH-WEST LIMITED had begun delivering services from 2021. The service currently has around 950 patients registered with less than 100 signed up on a subscription plan. Appointments are offered to adults and children.

The service phone line is open Monday to Friday between 8am and 5.30pm, during this time the administrator could book people in for face-to-face appointments or phone calls with the GP. Over the weekend the provider handled incoming calls for urgent advice or treatment.

Appointments were available on Monday afternoons, Tuesday all day, Thursday afternoons and Friday all day. Appointments were available on Saturday between 9.30am and 4pm and Sundays between 10am and 2pm by prior arrangement. Patients could request home visits during opening hours.

The provider owned the premises through another business and had managed the development of the building into a private health care facility. The business was in a small industrial estate, with parking available and easy access for people with mobility impairment.

The service had a website, which referred to a range of treatments which were not yet available. The provider informed us the service continued to develop to expand the range of patient care options.

The provider informed us that the majority of patients who used the service lived within the local area, and most were registered with local NHS GPs.

Updated 11 September 2023

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? – Requires improvement

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at ON CALL DOCTORS NORTH-WEST LIMITED on 19 July 2023. We carried out this inspection in line with our inspection priorities, to rate this service. This was the first inspection of this independent GP service.

The Director of ON CALL DOCTORS NORTH-WEST LIMITED is the registered manager. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations about how the service is run.

Our key findings were:

• The service provided safe and effective care though had not identified or mitigated some risks within the service including infection prevention and control.
• The GP provider was appropriately trained, and medicines and equipment were available in the event of a medical emergency.
• The provider had identified and acted following 2 incidents, though formal systems for oversight and learning from incidents and complaints were not embedded into the service.
• The GP provider had established effective working relationships with health care professionals working in primary and secondary care.
• Patients received timely, effective care and treatment that met their needs. Our review of clinical records found appropriate care and treatment was being provided.
• The provider had commissioned an independent clinical governance review and carried out clinical audits. They recognised the need to embed quality improvement activity to support service improvements and the delivery of safe and effective care as the team grew.
• We saw that comprehensive information was shared with a patient’s own GP following consultations to support safe care and treatment and continuity of care.
• Patient feedback regarding the service was highly positive.
• The provider displayed services available and fees on their website and gave all patients this information when they registered with the service.
• The provider had developed this service with a clear vision of treating patients holistically, providing enough time during consultations to deal with complex health concerns and being available when patients needed primary care support.
• The provider did not have effective oversight of all areas within the service. The provider shared an action plan and evidence of how risks we identified during the would addressed following the inspection.

We found that one regulation was breached, the provider MUST:

Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.

In addition, the provider SHOULD:

Introduce effective oversight of non-clinical aspects of the practice.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Healthcare