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 Loughborough Urgent Care Centre on 20 December 2018 in response to concerns. We also revisited to gather patient feedback and comments on the 31 January 2019. We found the service was meeting legal requirements.

At this inspection we found:

• There was overarching management of risk within the service which was overseen by the provider to board level in addition to the local management and governance in the centre.
• There were 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.
• Staff involved people in their care and treatment and treated people with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• Auditing of patient records and the prescribing of clinicians was conducted to ensure care was delivered in line with evidence-based guidelines. Any areas of poor practice were challenged, and support offered to improve staff understanding.
• When the service was taken over by the provider there was a heavy reliance on agency clinicians. This was seen as a risk and the increase in salaried staff prioritised for the sustainability of the service and the continuity of care to patients.
• There was a strong emphasis on the performance of the centre and the need for improvement in the patient experience. This was monitored locally and at provider level.
• There was a supportive management team in the centre and they were able to make changes and develop the service calling on the additional expertise and resources of the provider when required.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• The process for ensuring the fridge temperatures were monitored daily was not always adhered to. Although there was a policy in place, the centre had not ensured staff checking the temperatures were trained and that it was completed daily. Although a monthly review of the data loggers revealed the medicines were stored safely the daily check would not have alerted staff to an issue as it was conducted incorrectly.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care