Integrated Care 24 - Head Office Also known as South East Health Limited - Head Office

Updated 10 August 2017

Integrated Care 24 Limited – Head Office is the registered location for the out-of-hours GP service provided by Integrated Care 24 Limited.

Integrated Care 24 Limited is a not-for-profit social enterprise that provides urgent medical care and advice out-of-hours for patients across much of the south east. The Head office location provides services across Kent. The service is contracted by the NHS clinical commissioning groups for these areas. It provides primary medical services outside of usual working hours (out-of-hours or OOH) when GP practices are closed, this includes overnight, during weekends and when practices are closed for training. The service covers a population of approximately 1.500,000.

Most patients access the out-of-hours service via the NHS 111 telephone service. This service is undertaken by a different provider and calls arrive electronically at IC24 after being triaged by that provider. Patients may be seen by a clinician, at a local primary care centre usually located adjacent to a hospital Accident and Emergency facility, or patients may receive a telephone consultation or a home visit depending on their needs. Some patients access the primary care centres by walking in or are referred from the hospital accident and emergency departments or other urgent care centres.

The health of people in Kent is generally better than the England average. Deprivation is lower than average, however about 17.6% (48,300) of children live in poverty. Life expectancy for both men and women is higher than the England average.

The GP out-of-hours service is provided at the Primary Care Centres (PCC) show below:

Address

Ashford

Fracture Clinic

William Harvey Hospital

TN24 0LZ

Cranbrook

Jockey Lane

TN17 3JN

Maidstone

Fracture Clinic

Maidstone Hospital

Hermitage Lane

ME16 9QQ

Tonbridge

Tonbridge Cottage Hospital

Vauxhall Lane

TN11 0NE

Sevenoaks

Sevenoaks Hospital

Outpatients Building

Hospital Road

TN13 3PG

Dartford

Darent Valley Hospital

Darenth Wood Road

DA2 8DA

Gravesend

Gravesham Community Hospital

Bath Street

DA11 0DG

During the inspection we visited the Maidstone PCC and inspected the medicines and controlled drugs for the out of hours vehicle servicing the Cranbrook catchment area.

Updated 10 August 2017

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Integrated Care 24 Limited – Head Office on 12, 13 & 14 July 2016. The overall rating for the service was good. However we rated the service as requires improvement for providing safe services as we determined that the service must review the arrangements for the management and recording of controlled drugs to make them more effective.

The full comprehensive report on the 12,13 & 14 July 2016 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Integrated Care 24 Limited – Head Office on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This inspection was an announced focused inspection carried out on 7 June 2017 to confirm that the service had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches in regulations that we identified in our previous inspection on 12, 13 & 14 July 2016. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements.

Overall the service remains rated as good.

Our key findings were as follows:

• We found that the provider had introduced new standard operating procedures for medicines including controlled drugs (medicines that require extra checks and special storage because of their potential misuse).

• There had been a comprehensive training programme across the provider so that clinicians, drivers and receptionists understood their responsibilities in relation to handling controlled drugs.

• A programme of reporting and audit had been introduced which entailed regular checks of controlled drugs as well as stock checking of medicines.

• A new process had been introduced to help ensure that prescription forms, both computerised and handwritten could be traced through the service to the patient.

At our previous inspection on 12, 13 & 14 July 2016, we identified a breach of the regulations in respect of the arrangements for the management and recording of controlled drugs.

At this inspection we found that the provider had taken action to remedy the issue, consequently the service is rated as good for providing safe services.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice