Doncaster Same Day Health Centre

Updated 18 August 2017

Doncaster Same Day Health Centre is located in Cavendish Court, South Parade, Doncaster, DN1 2DJ and provides a same day health centre service for 323,765 patients living in the Doncaster area. T he service is provided by FCMS (NW) Limited who have three other locations registered with Care Quality Commission

The same day health centre is contracted by the local clinical commissioning group (CCG) to offer treatment, information and advice for a range of minor illnesses and injuries. Patients can ring the centre to make an appointment or be referred from the NHS 111 service. Patients may be seen by an advanced nurse practitioner, paramedic, nurse or a GP depending on their needs.

The service employs a head of urgent care, a service lead, operational supports, administrative and reception staff, advanced nurse practitioners, nurses, emergency care practitioners and healthcare assistants. Managerial and administrative staff worked across this service and the out-of-hours service which was co-located in the same building. GPs are employed on a sessional basis and bank or agency Emergency Care and Advanced Nurse practitioners are occasionally used.

The service is open seven days a week (including bank holidays) from 8am to 8pm. The average number of patients seen a week is 1,390. 

The Emergency Care Practitioner (ECP) service is also based at the same day health centre. Patients were predominantly referred to this service by other health professionals to provide further advice, onward referral or ECP's could visit the patient at home. The system allowed ECP's to perform remote triage if they were away from the centre. The service was available 24 hours a day, every day of the year.  The service is community-based and integrates with and supports existing community services.

Updated 18 August 2017

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Doncaster Same Day Health Centre on 20 June 2017. Overall the service is rated as good.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and an effective system in place for recording, reporting and learning from significant events.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• Patients’ care needs were assessed and delivered in a timely way according to need.
• Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance. Staff had been trained to provide them with the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
• There was a system in place that enabled staff access to patient records, and the same day health centre staff provided other services. For example the local GP and hospital, with information following contact with patients.
• The service managed patients’ care and treatment in a timely way.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand. Improvements were made to the quality of care as a result of complaints and concerns.
• The service worked proactively with other organisations and providers to develop services that supported alternatives to hospital admission where appropriate and improved the patient experience.
• The service had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The service proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

• Review calibration processes to include all the equipment used by the service provider for providing care or treatment to a service user.
• Improve accuracy of the recording of emergency and urgent appointments and ensure that these patients are prioritised.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice