Archived: NDUC - Northumberland House

Updated 30 April 2015

Northern Doctors Urgent Care (NDUC) provides out of hours general practitioner cover in the evenings, overnight, at weekends and on bank holidays. The service provides telephone contact and access to general practitioners at local centres and home visits. The service covers 954,000 patients throughout the Northumberland, Newcastle and North Tyneside areas.

Patients can access the service from 6.30pm to 8.00am Monday to Friday and 24 hours throughout Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holidays. Calls to the service are handled by North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) via the 111 telephone number. NDUC operates a triage model where all patients receive clinical telephone assessments. This prevents unnecessary journeys for patients and enables appropriate coordination of home visits and appointments according to clinical urgency and demand.

GPs from local practices provide the service patients can be seen in person by attending one of the service’s six locations:

• North Tyneside General Hospital, Rake Lane, North Shields, Tyne and Wear, NE29 8NH
• Hexham General Hospital, Corbridge Road, Hexham, NE46 1QJ
• Wansbeck Hospital, Woodhorn Lane, Ashington, Northumberland, NE63 9JJ
• Royal Victoria Infirmary, Queen Victoria Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear NE1 4LP
• Alnwick Infirmary, Infirmary Drive, Alnwick, Northumberland, NE66 2NS
• Berwick Infirmary, Infirmary Square, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, TD15 1LT.

These locations are open until approximately 11.30pm seven days a week. After that time, patients may also have an appointment with a GP at the organisation’s headquarters; Northumberland House, Gosforth Park Avenue, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE12 8EG. We visited all seven locations throughout the inspection period.

There is a stable clinical staff team who work for NDUC regularly. The service employs a number of both male and female GPs from the local community. The clinicians are supported by an administration / call handling team, receptionists, drivers and a management team who are responsible for the day to day running of the service.

Updated 30 April 2015

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out a comprehensive inspection of Northern Doctors Urgent Care on 2, 5, 7, 9 and 11 February 2015.

Overall, we rated the service as good. Specifically, we found the service to be good for providing well-led, effective, caring and responsive services.

Our key findings were as follows:

• Feedback from patients was positive; they told us staff treated them with respect and kindness;
• Patients generally reported good access to the service, with appointments available at a centre convenient to them;
• Patients we spoke with told us they felt they had sufficient time during their appointment.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance;
• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and to report incidents and near misses. Information about safety was recorded, monitored, reviewed and addressed;
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by the management team. The service actively sought feedback from patients
• A patient survey had been undertaken by the service in October 2014. The results were very positive, with 100% of patients rating their treatment on the phone as very good or excellent;
• The premises were clean and hygienic, although some curtains in the consultation rooms at the North Tyneside and Royal Victoria Infirmary sites were not clean;
• Staff received appropriate, role-specific training. The medical director produced a seasonal bulletin which included several ‘learning points’ and provided clinical updates for staff.

We saw an area of outstanding practice:

• Two detailed reviews of the service were carried out each year. ‘A day in the life of’ sessions were attended by senior managers and team leaders. All activities (initial telephone calls, triage calls, home visits and centre consultations) from a particular day were reviewed in detail. Any learning was then shared with staff as appropriate.

However, there were also areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

The provider should:

• Undertake a risk assessment and implement procedures for the management and testing of the water supply for the presence of legionella (a type of bacteria found in the environment which can contaminate water systems in buildings);
• Review arrangements for checking that medicines are in date;
• Implement a programme of appraisals for all non-clinical staff;
• Provide information at the six centres to inform patients of their right to request a chaperone;
• Improve arrangements for implementing actions following clinical audits.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice