Archived: Healthworks Medical Centre Also known as IntraHealth Limited

Updated 28 March 2018

Healthworks Medical Centre is registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide urgent care services. The service provides an extended GP access service from Healthworks Medical Centre, Paradise Lane, Easington Colliery, Peterlee, Co Durham, SR8 3EX, we visited this location as part of the inspection.

The provider of this service is Intrahealth Limited, which is a corporate provider of NHS primary care services. The service is located in the Healthworks building which is a health and community centre. There is a branch of a GP surgery in the building which is run by the same provider. The service shares a reception with the GP surgery. They have their own dedicated consulting and treatment rooms. There is a car park at the rear of the building, level access and three disabled parking bays.

The service directly employs four advanced nurse practitioner prescribers, whole time equivalent, (WTE) 3.3, an office manager and three receptionists WTE 3.5. There is a practice manager who works between this service and another local practice and on call GPs (employed by Intrahealth Limited in other local GP practices) are available.

The service provides extended GP access appointments via;

• NHS 111 service – which books face to face appointments.
• GP practices in the locality.
• Referrals from the local minor injury unit.
• Telephone enquiries were triaged and booked by NHS 111 (also known as warm transfers).

This service came into operation in April 2017. There was a walk-in service provided at this location prior to this. Patients occasionally attend still expecting to be seen by the walk in service. Rather than turning them away the provider has arrangements in place to deal with their presenting issue and advise them of the correct procedure for the future.

The service is advanced nurse practitioner (who prescribe) led. It is provided from 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday, 8am to 1pm Saturday, Sunday and on all bank holidays.

The service for patients requiring urgent medical care outside of these and the GP surgeries hours is provided by the NHS 111 service.

Updated 28 March 2018

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 at Healthworks Medical Centre on 22 February 2018 as part of our comprehensive inspection programme.

At this inspection we found:

• 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 reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care they provided. They ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.
• The staff involved 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.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice