Archived: Unit 3

Updated 12 June 2019

Unit 3 is the registered location for services provided by FedBucks Limited and provides out-of-hours and improved access primary medical services to patients in Buckinghamshire when GP practices are closed. The administrative base is located at Unit 3 Midshires Business Park, Smeaton Close, Aylesbury, HP19 8HL.

The service is commissioned by Buckinghamshire Clinical Commissioning Group and covers a population of approximately 485,000 people across the county of Buckinghamshire.

Patients access the out-of-hours service via the NHS 111 telephone service. The NHS111 service for the area is provided by a different provider. Patients may be seen by a clinician at one of the primary care centres, receive a telephone consultation or a home visit, depending on their needs. The majority of patients access the service via NHS 111.

Patients access the improved access service by contacting their own NHS GP practice.

The out-of-hours service is provided at four sites:

• Stoke Mandeville Hospital Primary Care Centre (6.30pm to 8am weekdays 24 hours over weekends and bank holidays).

• Wycombe Primary Care Centre (6.30pm to 8am weekdays 24 hours over weekends and bank holidays).

• Amersham Primary Care Centre (Saturday 8am to 9pm and Sunday 8am to 7pm).

• Buckingham Primary Care Centre (Saturday and Sunday 2pm to 4pm).

The service also provides cover at Poplar Grove surgery once a month, for 10 months of the year, (excluding August and December) to cover Buckinghamshire GP surgeries for protective time for learning from 1pm to 6.30pm.

Improved access appointments are offered until 8pm from Monday to Friday, for selected hours on a Saturday (specific to individual practices and from 9am until 1pm on Sunday at one of three sites:

• Stoke Mandeville Hospital Primary Care Centre
• Wycombe Primary Care Centre
• Threeways Surgery

During the inspection we visited the sites at Stoke Mandeville Hospital Primary Care Centre, Wycombe Primary Care Centre and the head office location at Unit 3.

The provider is registered to provide the following regulated activities:

• Transport services, triage and medical advice provided remotely
• Treatment of disease, disorder or injury
• Diagnostic and screening procedures

FedBucks Ltd was registered with CQC on 28 March 2018 and has a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the CQC to manage the service. Like registered services, they are ‘registered people. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations about how the provider is run.

From 1 October 2018 FedBucks provided improved access sessions for GP practices across Buckinghamshire on Sundays (9am to 1pm), four-hour sessions on bank holidays and on a Saturday prior to a bank holiday.

Improved access was developed to commission and fund additional primary care capacity across England to ensure that, by 2020 everyone has improved access to GP services including sufficient routine appointments at evenings and weekends to meet locally determined demand, alongside effective access to out of hours and urgent care services.

Updated 12 June 2019

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 Unit 3, FedBucks Limited as part of our inspection programme.

At this inspection we found:

• The service had systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When they did happen, the service learned from them and improved their processes.
• The service routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.
• Staff involved and treated people with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• Patients were able to access care and treatment from the service within an appropriate timescale for their needs.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care