Corby Urgent Care Centre

Updated 18 November 2022

Corby Urgent Care Centre is located on the outskirts of Corby town centre and provides services to people living in Corby and the surrounding areas. The urgent care centre is situated in a purpose built health care premises and is part of a mini complex which comprises a separate GP practice, emergency dentist, pharmacy, community hospital and a diagnostic centre; these are separate services which are not part of the Corby Urgent Care CQC registration.

The urgent care centre hosts a team of GPs, advanced care practitioners (ACPs) and nurses that are able to assess and treat patients presenting with minor injuries and minor illnesses. Pathology (for blood tests and screening for certain infections) is available at the service through an on-site pathology lab which is managed by a team of urgent care technicians (UCTs). The service also has access to X-Ray facilities provided by the local NHS Hospital Trust. In addition, patients can access social prescribing through the services wellbeing hub which is managed by a team of wellbeing advisors. The service is open for patients to attend between 8am and 8pm 7 days a week, all year round. Patients do not need to book an appointment to be seen at the service and can access the service by walking in, however some patients are able to access the service by appointment if booked directly by the NHS 111 service.

Corby Urgent Care Centre is managed and overseen by a provider organisation called One Medicare Ltd. The service is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening procedures, family planning, maternity and midwifery services, treatment of disease, disorder or injury and surgical procedures. There is a senior leadership team in place at the urgent care centre which report to the senior leadership team at service provider level. Within the urgent care centre, the clinical services manager and operations manager are responsible for managing and overseeing the clinical team comprising of GPs, ACPs, nurses and UCTs, as well as the non-clinical team which is made up of service coordinators, wellbeing advisors and patient navigators.

Updated 18 November 2022

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 Corby Urgent Care Centre on 18 October 2022. We inspected the service to follow up on breaches of regulations and areas of concern which we identified at our previous inspection in October 2021.

Previously the service was rated as Inadequate overall. Specifically the service was rated as Inadequate for providing safe, effective and well-led care. The responsive and caring key questions were rated as requires improvement.

We noted significant improvements at this inspection as a result of extensive changes within the service and therefore the service is rated as good overall, including for all key questions.

At this inspection we found:

• Our previous inspection report was used to undertake a full internal service review. This resulted in a number of changes at the service which included changes to staffing structures and improvements to systems and processes. Additionally, we noted vast improvements to staff morale during our inspection.
• We observed strengthened systems and processes to keep patients safe and safeguarded from abuse.
• An established clinical triage system had been implemented since our previous inspection. Overall we observed effective systems to navigate, monitor and manage patient journey through the service.
• The service had strengthened their paediatric care systems to ensure that infants, children and young people were navigated to care in a safe, effective and timely way. Safeguarding leads were trained to advanced levels for safeguarding children.
• Previous concerns regarding staffing levels and staff working under pressure had been addressed with changes in recruitment and improved rota management. In addition we noted clear clinical oversight, supervision and operational management in place during this inspection.
• The provider ensured that all staff worked within their scope of practice and had access to clinical support when required.
• Staff had the information they needed to deliver safe care and treatment to patients. There was evidence demonstrating safe and appropriate use of medicines.
• Systems, processes, risks and the effectiveness of patient care was stringently monitored and routinely audited in a systematic way. The service identified themes, shared learning and took action to improve safety. There were systems in place for dealing with surges in demand.
• Staff worked together, and worked well with other organisations to deliver effective care and treatment. Feedback gathered from patients during the inspection was positive and complimentary about the service.
• Leaders were experienced and dynamic, they expressed an authentic passion and dedication to delivering high quality care.
• The inspection team noted that staff came across as incredibly proud to work at the service. Staff demonstrated immense pride in their work when speaking with the inspection team.
• Staff expressed that the service had gone from strength to strength with the new management structure and described individuals as being fundamental in driving positive changes within the service.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Hospitals and Interim Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services