Archived: Bedford On Call Also known as Bedoc

Updated 25 April 2014

Bedford on Call Limited (BEDOC) is a group of GPs with practices in North Bedfordshire who work in shifts to provide urgent medical care for their patients outside normal surgery hours. Patients can access the service by telephoning their own GP or by calling NHS Direct.

Bedford is a largely urban region, with 19.5% of people belonging to non-white minorities. Of these, Asian / Asian British and Indian constitute the largest ethnic groups.

All of the indicators for life expectancy and causes of deaths for Bedford are not significantly different to the England average.

Rates of drug misuse, people diagnosed with diabetes and acute sexually transmitted infections are a cause for concern as they are above national averages. The rate of incidence of malignant melanoma and hospital stays for self-harm and alcohol related harm are lower in Bedford in comparison to the England average.

The provider registered with the Care Quality Commission on 28 December 2011 and is currently registered to provide services at one location, Bedford On Call which is based within Bedford Hospital. They are registered to provide diagnostic and screening procedures, transport services, triage and medical advice.

This was the first time this service had been inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Updated 25 April 2014

Bedford on Call Limited (known as BEDOC) is a group of GPs with practices in North Bedfordshire who work in shifts to provide urgent medical care for their patients outside normal surgery hours. Patients access the service by telephoning their own doctors surgery or by calling NHS Direct.

We carried out an out-of-hours announced inspection of the service on the 29 January 2014. A team made up of a practice nurse, practice manager an expert-by-experience and a GP assisted the inspectors with the inspection.

During the visit we observed care being given, talked to patients and staff and looked at treatment records, policies and procedures and other paper work.

We found that patients who used the service were kept safe and protected from avoidable harm. Care and support was given to patients by a caring team of staff who were responsive to patient’s needs.

We found some dust under examination couches in treatment rooms. Although we did not consider this a significant risk to patient safety we have asked the provider to monitor the cleaning arrangements they have in place to make sure all areas are clean and dust free.

Feedback from patients during the inspection and from people who had completed comment cards all expressed a high level of satisfaction with the service they had received. The majority of patients felt that overall care and treatment was good, that staff were caring and treated people in a sensitive, dignified manner.

There was rigorous monitoring of all clinician performance which ensured that poor performance was dealt with quickly. Because of this, any risk to patient care and safety was minimised.

We found locum doctors were not employed at BEDOC and the only person who was not a permanent member of staff was a nurse, recruited for a specific role. This significantly contributed to the safety of patients.