Archived: GP Primary Choice Ltd

Updated 9 March 2023

• The registered head office address for GP Primary Choice (GPPC) Ltd is Unit 1, Block C University of Essex, Knowledge gateway, Parkside Office Village, Nesfield Road, Colchester, Essex, CO4 3ZL.
• The services are provided from two locations; one located in a room within Turner Road Surgery at Colchester Primary Care Centre, Turner Rd, Colchester CO4 5JR. The second is located within the diagnostic centre at Clacton Community Hospital, Tower Rd, Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, CO15 1LH. We visited the head office, and both the Colchester and Clacton locations as part of this inspection.
• The provider offered phlebotomy at both locations and additionally spirometry procedures at the Clacton location.
• There is accessible parking at both locations.
• The service is accessed through an on-line booking site or by telephoning the service desk.
• Appointments are available at the Colchester location from Monday to Wednesday 7:15am to 3pm, and Thursday to Friday 8am to 3pm. Appointments are available at the Clacton locations from Monday to Friday 8am to 7:45pm and Saturday and Sunday 8am to 1:45pm.

How we inspected this service

Before the inspection, we asked the provider to send us some information, which was reviewed prior to the day of the site inspection. We also reviewed information held by the CQC on our internal systems.

During the inspection we spoke with staff present including the Registered Manager and clinical staff. We made observations of the facilities and service provision and reviewed documents, records and information held by the service.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we always ask the following five questions:

• Is it safe?
• Is it effective?
• Is it caring?
• Is it responsive to people’s needs?
• Is it well-led?

These questions therefore formed the framework for the areas we looked at during the inspection.

Updated 9 March 2023

This service is rated as Good overall.

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 of GP Primary Choice Ltd on 13 January 2023, as part of our inspection programme. GP Primary Choice Ltd is registered under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 to provide the following regulated activities:

• Diagnostic and screening procedures

• Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

This service provides both routine and urgent phlebotomy services to children over 6 years and adults, from 2 local locations at the Colchester Primary Care Centre and from within the diagnostic centre at Clacton Community Hospital.

The chief officer is the registered manager for GP Primary Choice Ltd. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons. Registered persons have the legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Our key findings were:

• The service provided care in a way that kept people safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• There were no assessments to understand if emergency equipment or emergency medicines needed to be held or easily accessed by the service.
• Sharps bins were not secured in line with guidance.
• The service encouraged feedback from patients which was positive and included timely access to the service.
• The provider cared for people in a kind and respectful manner.
• The provider had appropriate processes and systems in place to monitor quality and governance.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Carry out an assessment regarding the need and access to appropriate emergency equipment and emergency medicines.
• Continue with the newly implemented process to formalise and document clinical supervision meetings within staff records.
• Take steps to ensure sharps containers located at the Clacton location are safely secured in line with guidance.
• Continue the newly implemented process to collect patient feedback at the point of service delivery to identify improvements that patients using the service would value.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Hospitals and Interim Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services.