The Care Quality Commission
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  • Urgent care service or mobile doctor

Archived: Rotherham Equitable Access

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Rotherham Community Health Centre, Greasbrough Road, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, S60 1RY (01709) 388281

Provided and run by:
Practice Plus Group Hospitals Limited

All Inspections

23 March 2017

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Rotherham Equitable Access Centre on 22 and 23 March 2017. Overall the service is rated as good.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows: 

  • There was an open and transparent approach to safety and an effective system in place for recording, reporting and learning from significant events.
  • Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
  • Patients’ care needs were assessed and delivered in a timely way according to need.
  • Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance. Staff had been trained to provide them with the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment. 
  • Following a pilot in collaboration with the local hospital trust and the primary care trust in 2011 a GP from the service was routinely rostered to work within the local emergency department during weekdays, evening and weekends. The emergency department staff would direct patients who could more appropriately be seen by the GP to them.
  • With the patient's permission, there was a system in place that enabled staff access to patient records. Record of patients contact with the equitable access centre could be sent to the patient's own GP or other health provider.
  • The service managed patients’ care and treatment in a timely way.
  • Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
  • Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand. Improvements were made to the quality of care as a result of complaints and concerns.
  • The service worked proactively with other organisations and providers to develop services that supported alternatives to hospital admission where appropriate and improved the patient experience. For example, the service provided a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) diagnostic service between 8am to 4pm on weekdays. Staff told us the service was popular with patients as they could be seen straight away, rather than attending the emergency department and if clinically indicated treatment commenced.
  • The service had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
  • There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The service proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
  • The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.

We saw one area of outstanding practice:

  • A member of reception staff raised concerns with the GPs that a child was a frequent attender. In response,the service had implemented a frequent attender’s process for children aged under 12 years old. This meant the service collated information about frequent attenders at both the equitable access centre and the out-of-hours service and reviewed it to identify any possible safeguarding concerns. The staff brought any concerns to the patient's own GP's attention or to the local safeguarding board.

The area where the provider should make an improvement is:

  • Review how the service measures the timings of patient consultations within the rapid assessment model to capture the patient consultation start and end time. 

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

21 May 2013

During a routine inspection

People's needs were assessed and treatment was delivered in line with their individual needs. The people we spoke with commented positively about the service they had received. They told us they had not had to wait long to be seen and staff were efficient, courteous and helpful. One person said, 'I've been here before and have usually been seen within an hour. It's a good quick service.'

There were effective systems in place to reduce the risk and spread of infection. We saw that people were protected from the risk of infection because appropriate guidance was available and had been followed. People we spoke with told us they felt the clinic was clean and we saw protective clothing, such as gloves and aprons were readily available if required.

There were effective recruitment and selection processes in place. We saw the provider had made appropriate checks into people's backgrounds to assess potential staffs suitability. We also saw staff had received a structured induction to the clinic and ongoing training to make sure they could meet peoples' needs.

The complaints procedure was available to people who used the service. The people we spoke with said they had no complaints about the service they had received that day or in the past. Where concerns had been raised appropriate action had been taken to investigate and address any issues identified.

24 November 2011

During a routine inspection

People we spoke with were positive about their experiences of using Care UK Clinical Services at Rotherham Community Health Centre. They told us that they found the staff to be friendly and helpful, and that they felt their confidentiality was respected. One person told us that they thought the service they had received was 'marvellous', another person told us that they were pleased with the waiting times. We spoke with one person who praised the service they had received from one of the GPs within the practice.

We observed that people were treated with courtesy and respect whilst they were waiting for treatment. We observed that staff demonstrated a good understanding of their role, to ensure people that used the service received safe and appropriate care that met their needs