Summerfield Urgent Care Centre

Updated 20 January 2022

Summerfield Urgent Care Centre is based in Birmingham. Patients do not need to be registered to use the urgent care centre. The provider organisation is Virgin Care Coventry LLP. The service is provided in a purpose built primary care centre which the provider shares with four GP practices, community health teams and an independent pharmacist. The service is located in an area of Birmingham which has high levels of deprivation (based on information from Public Health England it is situated amongst the 10% most deprived areas nationally). The area served is also very diverse with a high proportion of patients whose first language is not English. A wide range of languages are spoken in the area.

The service is open to walk-in patients 8am to 8pm daily, 365 days a year (including all bank holidays). The service is located within a short walking distance of a local hospital with accident and emergency facilities. Summerfield Urgent Care Centre sits within the wider provider organisation (Virgin Care). There is a regional corporate team led by a Business Unit Head. The regional team also includes a regional clinical lead, a professional lead for nursing and governance and regional operational managers who support the service. At a local level staffing consists of four GPs, two Advanced Nurse Practitioners (ANPs) and four practice nurses. There is a local management team which consists of a service manager, an administrative lead and a clinical lead.

Updated 20 January 2022

This service is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspection December 2017 – Good)

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services well-led? – Good

We carried out an unannounced inspection at Summerfield Urgent Care Centre on 30 November 2021. This inspection was a focused inspection to gain assurances, following concerns that were raised about the safety of the service.

At this inspection we found:

• The service had implemented processes and adjusted how it delivered services to meet the needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. This included individual risk assessments for staff, the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and enhanced infection control procedures.
• The service had systems in place 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 inductions had been strengthened to ensure all temporary staff working for the service were aware of the health and safety procedures and where the surplus stock of PPE was kept.
• Patients were able to access care and treatment from the service within an appropriate timescale for their needs.
• Governance arrangements had been strengthened due to the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure risks to patients were considered, managed and mitigated appropriately.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care