Archived: Primary Care Hub Also known as (Rainham Improved Access Hub)

This service is rated as Good.

This was the first time that this service had been inspected and rated.

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 Primary Care Hub (Rainham Improved Access Hub) as part of our inspection programme.

The service which is run by Medway Practices Alliance (MPA), provides improved access GP services to patients who are registered with GP practices within the NHS Medway Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) area. The improved access service gives patients the choice of accessing GP services at a place that is not their own GP practice and at times when their own GP may or may not be open.

Twenty people provided feedback about the service. Nineteen were positive about the service and one was negative. Themes from these comments were that staff were professional, kind, caring and helpful and that the service was impressive, efficient, prompt and thorough. The negative comment related to the location of the hub.

Our key findings were:

• The service had good 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 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 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.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Complete the planned team training on the identification and management of patients with severe infections, for example sepsis.

• Record the serial numbers of blank prescription forms returned to the safe at the end of the day as well as those distributed to the printers in the morning.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care