Four Urgent Treatment Centres run by Totally on behalf of the NHS in South East London have been rated as ‘GOOD’ by the Care Quality Commission following an inspection in December.
Services at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kings College Hospital, Princess Royal University Hospital and Beckenham Beacon UTC were found to be delivered effectively, in a caring way, responsive to patient needs and well-led. Some of CQC’s key findings include:
- Patients found the service easy to access and received the care they needed when they needed it.
- Clear systems are in place for risk management ensuring safety incidents were minimised.
- A routine review of effectiveness and appropriateness of care is undertaken, ensuring treatment and care were delivered according to guidelines.
- Staff treated their patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
- There is evidence of a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement across all levels of the service.
The majority of patients attending the four sites are seen and discharged within the 4-hour target window, but in what continue to be challenging circumstances for frontline healthcare staff, CQC recognised challenges around the initial streaming of patients attending the sites with some patients waiting longer than 15 minutes for an initial assessment. Action plans have been put in place to address these challenges and are already resulting in improvements in the 15-minute wait numbers.
The report highlighted that staff consistently delivered accessible, compassionate, patient-centred care to more than 7,000 patients every single week across the sites, with even more seen at home via Totally’s home visiting service.
