North Nottinghamshire out-of-hours, known as Primary Care 24 provides out-of-hours General Practitioner (GP) services for around 300,000 people living within northern Nottinghamshire.
We carried out the inspection as part of our new inspection programme to test our approach going forward. It took place over two days with a team including that included a CQC inspector, a GP, a GP practice manager and an expert-by-experience.
We found the service was effective in meeting patient needs and had taken positive steps to ensure people who may have difficulty in accessing services were enabled to do so. There was an effective system to ensure that patient information was promptly shared with each patient’s own GP to ensure continuity of care. However where patients were not registered with a GP in the area covered by the service, for example tourists or visitors, no process was in place to pass information to their own GP.
Patients told us that they were happy with the care and treatment they received and felt safe. There were robust systems in place to help ensure patient safety through learning from incidents and the safe management of medicines. The provider had taken robust steps to ensure that all staff underwent a thorough and rigorous recruitment and induction process to help ensure their suitability to care for patients.
Patients experienced care that was delivered by dedicated and caring staff. People we spoke with said staff displayed a kind and caring attitude and we observed patients being treated with respect and kindness whilst their dignity and confidentiality was maintained.
There were effective systems in place to ensure the service could be delivered to the widest range of patients with varying levels of need. There was good collaborative working between the provider and other healthcare and social care agencies which ensured patients received the best outcomes in the shortest possible time.
We found that the service was well-led and managed by an enthusiastic and knowledgeable senior management team, and their values and behaviours were shared by staff. Members of the staff team we spoke with all held very positive views of the management and leadership and felt well supported in their roles. They told us the senior managers were approachable and listened to any concerns or suggestions they might have to improve the level of service provision.
We found the numbers of staff who had completed mandatory training was low. The provider had identified the deficiency and had an action plan in place to address the situation.