Reading Walk-in Health Centre

Updated 15 June 2017

We undertook a desk top inspection of this practice on 11 May 2017.

Reading Walk-in Health Centre is a purpose built practice located in Reading and has a population of approximately 7,500 patients. The practice also provides a walk-in service seven days a week to the local population for any patients who need urgent GP or nurse appointments, regardless of

whether they are registered at this or another practice. The service population has some economic deprivation with significantly high deprivation among patients over 65, of which the practice has low numbers. There is very high proportion of patients aged 25 to 40. The service has a very

high proportion of employed patients registered and there is a university located nearby. Reading town centre is ethnically diverse, including ethnic groups of sub-continental, African and Eastern European origin. Patient services were located on one floor and the practice

is accessible for those with limited mobility. The appointment system and walk-in service were both available to registered patients.

• There are five GPs working at the centre, including one bank staff member. There are a mixture of male and female GPs. There are emergency care practitioners (ECPs), advanced nurse practitioners and practice nurses also employed at the centre. A number of administrative staff and a service manager support the clinical team.

• The service aimed to have 5.25 whole time equivalent (WTE) GPs but was in the process of recruiting new GPs and was using long term locums to support salaried staff. There were 8.08 WTE nursing staff and ECPs working as part of the walk-in service and 3 WTE nurses providing care to registered patients. There was also recruitment taking place for the nursing team, including a new diabetes nurse due to the start at the service.

• The service is open to registered patients from 8am to 6.30pm weekdays. There are extended hours appointments until 8pm on two weekdays and from 8am to 12.30pm on Saturday mornings. It is open from 8am to 8pm seven days a week for walk-in patients.

• Out of hours GP services were available when the service was closed by phoning 111 and this was advertised on the service website.

• The service had an alternative provider medical services contract (APMS) for providing both a GP service to registered patients and walk-in service to the general population.

Updated 15 June 2017

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

Our previous focussed follow up inspection at Reading Walk-in Health Centre on 7 February 2017 found breaches of regulations related to the effective domain. We issued a warning notice as this was a continued breach following our last comprehensive inspection in April 2016. We rated the service as requires improvement in providing effective services. Overall the service was rated as good following our last inspection, as improvements in other domains led to change in the overall rating. The full comprehensive report on the April 2016 inspection and the focussed inspection report from February 2017 can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Reading Walk-in Health Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This inspection was a desk based review (we have not visited the centre as part of the inspection but requested specific information related to the previous breach of regulation) carried out on 11 May 2017 to confirm that the practice had completed their plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches in regulations that we identified in our previous inspection in February 2017. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements since our last inspection.

We found the practice had made improvements since our last inspection. The service is rated as good for providing effective services.

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

• The care and monitoring of patients with long term conditions had improved since our last inspection and was now closer to local and national achievements in national data.
• The process for recording and monitoring medicine reviews had been improved and this was reflected in data we received regarding the number of reviews undertaken within appropriate timescales.
• Data from the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) showed that by the end of March 2017 the centre had achieved a significantly improved QOF performance compared to 2016.
• There was an increased uptake in cervical screening for eligible patients and therefore greater opportunity for an interventions required to be implemented in a timely way.

Areas the provider should make improvements:

• Continue to improve the cervical screening rates among eligible patients.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 15 June 2017

Updated 16 March 2017

The provider had resolved the concerns regarding the responsive domain that we found during our inspection in April 2016. However we still found concerns regarding the effectiveness of care provided to some patients. The population group ratings have been updated to reflect the change in ratings across all the domains.

Updated 16 March 2017

The provider had resolved the concerns regarding the responsive domain that we found during our inspection in April 2016. However we still found concerns regarding the effectiveness of care provided to some patients. The population group ratings have been updated to reflect the change in ratings across all the domains.

Updated 16 March 2017

The provider had resolved the concerns regarding the responsive domain that we found during our inspection in April 2016. However we still found concerns regarding the effectiveness of care provided to some patients. The population group ratings have been updated to reflect the change in ratings across all the domains.

Updated 16 March 2017

The provider had resolved the concerns regarding the responsive domain that we found during our inspection in April 2016. However we still found concerns regarding the effectiveness of care provided to some patients. The population group ratings have been updated to reflect the change in ratings across all the domains.

Updated 16 March 2017

The provider had resolved the concerns regarding the responsive domain that we found during our inspection in April 2016. However we still found concerns regarding the effectiveness of care provided to some patients. The population group ratings have been updated to reflect the change in ratings across all the domains.