Archived: i-HEART 365 Service - GP Streaming

Updated 17 January 2019

Barnsley Healthcare Federation (BHF) CIC registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide a GP streaming service to patients who attend Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust emergency department. 

The service is contracted by Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and provides a walk in navigational service within the emergency department. The service is operational from 10am to 10pm every day of the year. A qualified clinician initially assesses the patient and directs them to the most appropriate department, which includes the GP service. Patients directed to the GP service will have their observations taken within 15 minutes of booking into the service and their early warning score calculated.  The purpose is to reduce pressure on the emergency department and ensure patients are referred to the most appropriate department.

The service employs both male and female GPs, nursing staff and clinical navigators. They are supported by receptionists and a management team who are responsible for the day-to-day running of the service. The Oaks Park Medical Centre is where the provider is based and all head office functions are carried out from this location.

Barnsley Healthcare Federation CIC has other locations registered with the Commission which include an extended hours access service, the out-of-hours service and GP practices.

Updated 17 January 2019

This service is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspection February 2018 - Inadequate)

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? – Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at i-Heart 365 Service – GP Streaming service on 14, 16 and 17 November 2018 to follow up on breaches of regulations and inspect a service in special measures.

We previously carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of the service on 13 and 14 February 2018. Our overall rating for the service was inadequate and inadequate for providing safe, effective, responsive and well-led services and good for caring. We served warning notices for breaches in relation to Regulation 16: Receiving and acting on complaints and Regulation 18: Staffing.

At this inspection we found:

• The service had reviewed the systems 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 introduced systems to review the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.
• Staff involved and treated people with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• Patients were able to access care and treatment from the service within an appropriate timescale for their needs.

We saw one area of outstanding practice:

• The provider had reviewed the identification and management of sepsis across all its services and routinely recorded patient observations in the face to face settings to calculate early warning scores. They had been proactive by sharing and promoting this work with other organisations across healthcare pathways and had contributed to the review of external incidents relating to sepsis led by other organisations.

​I am taking this service out of special measures. This recognises the significant improvements made to the quality of care provided by the service.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP

Chief Inspector of General Practice