Archived: North Birmingham Urgent Treatment Centre

Updated 22 June 2017

Warren Farm Urgent Care Centre is run by Virgin Care Vertis LLP and provides NHS walk in facilities for members of the public who require treatment of minor illnesses and injuries. The service was originally commissioned in 2011 and current commissioning arrangements are held with Birmingham Cross City CCG.

Patients do not need to be registered or need to make an appointment to use the service. The service is open 8am to 8pm daily, including weekends and bank holidays (with the exception of Christmas Day). Patients access the service in person and wait to be seen.

Approximately 2500 patients per month are seen at the urgent care centre. The service is located in an area with higher than average levels of deprivation and a predominantly white British population.

The service is located in purpose built premises managed by NHS properties. There is some parking available onsite. The building is shared with other services such as community teams who rent rooms in the premises.

The service is nurse led (all nurses are independent prescribers), occasionally GPs are used to staff the service to fill shifts. At the time of inspection all clinical staff , with the exception of the clinical lead manager, were employed on a locum basis.

The service is led by the clinical lead manager and a service manager whose time is split between this and another walk in centre based on the same contract (Washwood Heath Centre). There is a regional management team who support the service. Other staff include a health care assistant and four reception staff. There was a relatively new management team in place. The head of urgent care had been in post from February 2016 and the clinical lead manager had been employed since January 2017. The service manager was on long term absence, the role was being covered by the assistant service manager.

Clinical staffing typically consisted of two to three clinicians depending on the day and a health care assistant.

Updated 22 June 2017

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Warren Farm Urgent Care Centre on 28 February 2017. 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 for recording, reporting and learning from significant events.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• The provider was aware of risks associated with high locum use and had taken action to minimise those risks, through recruitment checks and performance monitoring arrangements. Those employed on a locum basis were required to provide evidence that training was up to date to deliver effective care and treatment.
• Patients’ care needs were assessed and delivered in a timely way according to need and in line with current evidence based guidance.
• Staff received training to provide them with the skills, knowledge and experience appropriate to their roles.
• There were systems in place to ensure patients with urgent care needs were prioritised.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand. Complaints and concerns received were used to support improvement in the quality of care.
• The provider worked proactively to develop services that supported alternatives to hospital care where appropriate.
• The service had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• There was a relatively new leadership team in place and staff felt this was having a positive impact on the service and the support they received.
• The service proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

• Consider how systems of clinical audit or other improvement activity could be implemented to support improvements in patient outcomes.

• Review patient feedback to ensure accuracy of data in order to identify areas for improvement.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice