Headquarters Medway Practices Alliance

Updated 7 July 2023

The registered provider is Medway Practices Alliance Limited which is a primary care at scale organisation that delivers regulated activities at 4 registered locations in England.

Medway Practices Alliance Limited holds sub contracts with Primary Care Networks (PCNs) to deliver enhanced GP access services (for adults and children) evenings and weekends at six primary care hubs (PCHs) in Kent and Medway. They are also contracted by the NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board (ICB) to deliver home visiting services during normal working hours. These services are available to the patients of 44 GP practices in Kent and Medway (approximately 300,000) and are managed from the location Headquarters Medway Practices Alliance, Suite 1 and 2, Kent Space, Revenge Road, Chatham, Kent, ME5 8UD.

As part of our inspection we visited Headquarters Medway Practices Alliance Limited, Suite 1 and 2, Kent Space, Revenge Road, Chatham, Kent, ME5 8UD. We also visited the PCH at the Walter Brice Centre, Tilley Close, Hoo, Rochester, Kent, ME3 9AA where the provider delivers regulated activities. The provider also delivers regulated activities at:

• The PCH at the Rochester Healthy Living Centre, Delve Road, Rochester, Kent, ME1 2EL.
• The PCH at the Rainham Healthy Living Centre, 103-108 High Street, Rainham, Gillingham, Kent, ME8 8AA.
• The PCH at the Lordswood Healthy Living Centre, Sultan Road, Chatham, Kent, ME5 8TJ.
• The PCH at the Balmoral Gardens Healthy Living Centre, Gillingham, Kent, ME7 4PN.
• The PCH at the Iwade Health Centre, 1 Monins Road, Sittingbourne, Kent, ME9 8TY.

Patients access these services through their own GP practice. Services are available as follows:

• The PCH at the Walter Brice Centre:
• Saturday 9am to 5pm.

• The PCH at the Rochester Healthy Living Centre:
• Wednesday 4pm to 8pm.
• Friday 4pm to 8pm.
• Saturday 9am to 2.30pm.

• The PCH at the Rainham Healthy Living Centre:
• Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 4pm to 8pm.
• Thursday 3pm to 8pm.

• The PCH at the Lordswood Healthy Living Centre:
• Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 4pm to 8pm.
• Thursday 3pm to 8pm.
• Saturday 9am to 5pm.

• The PCH at the Balmoral Gardens Healthy Living Centre:
• Saturday 9am to 5pm.

• The PCH at the Iwade Health Centre:
• Monday and Thursday 5pm to 8pm.
• Saturday 8.30am to 5pm.
• Sunday 8.30am to 4pm.

• The home visiting services is available between the hours of 9am and 6pm Monday to Friday.

Medway Practices Alliance Limited is registered with the Care Quality Commission to deliver the following regulated activities from the location Headquarters Medway Practices Alliance: diagnostic and screening procedures; family planning; maternity and midwifery services; treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

The website is www.medwaypracticesalliance.co.uk.

How we inspected this service

The inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site. This was in line with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements.

This included:

• Requesting evidence from the provider.
• Site visits.
• Staff interviews.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we always ask the following five questions:

• Is it safe?
• Is it effective?
• Is it caring?
• Is it responsive to people’s needs?
• Is it well-led?

These questions therefore formed the framework for the areas we looked at during the inspection.

Updated 7 July 2023

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 Headquarters Medway Practices Alliance on 6 and 12 June 2023. The inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

The provider delivers enhanced access GP services as well as a home visiting service to the patients of 44 GP practices in the NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board (ICB) area.

Our key findings were:

• There were clear systems to help keep people safe and safeguarded from abuse.
• Risks to patients, staff and visitors were assessed, monitored and managed effectively.
• Staff had the information they needed to deliver safe care and treatment to patients.
• There were reliable systems for appropriate and safe handling of medicines.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care as well as treatment were delivered in line with current legislation, standards and guidance.
• Staff had the skills, knowledge and experience to carry out their roles and worked together as well as with other organisations to deliver effective care and treatment.
• Staff treated patients with kindness, respect as well as compassion and helped patients to be involved in decisions about care and treatment.
• Services were organised and delivered to meet patients’ needs and patients were able to access services within an appropriate timescale for their needs.
• Leaders had the capacity and skills to deliver high-quality, sustainable care and the service had a clear vision to deliver high-quality care as well as promote good outcomes for patients.
• There were clear responsibilities, roles and systems of accountability to support good governance and management.
• The service involved patients, the public, staff and external partners to support high-quality sustainable services.
• There were systems and processes for learning, continuous improvement and innovation.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Continue with plans to train all primary care hub (PCH) reception staff as fire marshals.
• Revise systems to help ensure all emergency equipment and all emergency medicines that are required to be kept are available at all PCHs.
• Continue with plans to repeat all clinical audits to complete the cycle of clinical audit.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Health Care