Little Horton Medical Centre - City Health Limited

We carried out an announced inspection at Little Horton Medical Centre - City Health Limited on 5 July 2023. Little Horton Medical Centre - City Health Limited registered with the Care Quality Commission in July 2019. This was the first inspection of this service and in response to a regulated activity being delivered.

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

The service is contracted to provide 20 hours of enhanced access appointments for the population of 1 Primary Care Network (PCN) in the inner city area of Bradford. (A PCN is a group of practices working together to focus on local patient care). These appointments were delivered Monday to Friday within working hours. At the time of our inspection the service was delivering 16 hours of enhanced access appointments and the additional 4 hours were under review. The service has been delivered since October 2022.

The chairperson of the board is the nominated individual for the service. The nominated individual is registered with the Care Quality Commission and responsible for supervising the management of the regulated activity provided. Registered persons have 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 provider had processes in place to maintain oversight of the hub services and ensure that premises and equipment were safe.
• Staff told us they enjoyed delivering their services and working for the provider. They were kept up to date with information and changes to the service.
• Leaders and staff were exceptionally knowledgeable about issues and priorities relating to the patient population. They were culturally competent and had an in-depth understanding of the challenges faced by patients, and were working to address them.
• The team was collaborative and supportive and worked closely with GP practices, the PCN, stakeholders and other like-minded services, to continually review data and patient utilisation of the clinics which were offered.
• Patient feedback showed that access to appointments was timely and met their needs. The team ensured they were responding to those with the greatest need, from deprived and marginalised communities and reducing health inequalities for patients.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Continue with plans to enhance the induction process to ensure that the documentation in place fully reflects the support and discussions which take place.
• Take steps to ensure that the quality improvement activity which takes place directly relates to, and reflects the services offered.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Health Care