The Care Quality Commission
  • Doctor
  • Urgent care service or mobile doctor

Barking Urgent Treatment Centre

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Barking Hospital, Upney Lane, Barking, Essex, IG11 9LX (020) 8911 1130

Provided and run by:
Partnership of East London Co-operatives (PELC) Limited

All Inspections

During an assessment under our new approach

We carried out an announced assessment of Barking Urgent Treatment Centre from the 9 June to the 5 August 2025. We carried out this assessment to review the changes made at the previous assessment in June 2023, where the service was found to be in breach of regulation 12 safe care and treatment, regulation 17 good governance and regulation 18 safe staffing and was rated requires improvement overall and in four key questions. At this assessment we have reviewed all the key questions for safe, effective, responsive and well led.

Barking Urgent Treatment Centre is an urgent treatment service available to anyone living or working in Barking and the surrounding areas in North-East London. The service provides treatment of minor injuries and illnesses and provides an initial assessment (streaming) service in order that patients are transferred to the right service either within the Urgent Treatment Centre or elsewhere. The service is not located by an emergency department, patients who require emergency care are transferred using the 999-ambulance service to Queens Hospital, King George Hospital or Newham Hospital.

The service is located on one level at Barking Hospital, Upney Lane, Barking, IG11 9LX and is accessible to those with limited mobility.

The urgent treatment centre is an NHS service for patients who walk-in, self-refer, or are referred by the NHS 111 service open every day from 8am to 10pm.

The service is delivered by Partnership of East London Cooperatives (PELC) which is a not-for-profit social enterprise delivering NHS integrated urgent treatment services (including GP Out of Hours and Urgent Treatment Centres), to more than two million people across East London and West Essex.

PELC provides doctors and initial assessment (streaming) staff to the service. Other clinical staff are provided by North-East London NHS Foundation Trust who subcontract nurse and health care support worker staff to PELC. Most of the clinical staff working at the service for PELC are either self-employed, bank staff (those who are retained on a list by the provider) or agency staff.

At this assessment we found:

SAFE

We looked for evidence that people were protected from abuse and avoidable harm and found the service had made improvements and had responded to the findings of the previous assessment. This included staffing, and clinical guardianship.

EFFECTIVE

We looked for evidence that staff provided patients with effective care and treatment, and advice and support. We found staff worked with other services to achieve this. Following the last assessment the service had made the necessary changes to improve the service.

RESPONSIVE

We looked for evidence that the service met people’s needs, and patients were able to easily access the service. We found at the previous assessment the service was not meeting its four-hour target as agreed with the commissioners to treat and discharge patients. At this assessment we found the provider had improved and had met the target of 98% and had achieved over 98.8% of patients being seen by a clinician within four hours during the last four months.

WELL LED

We looked for evidence that service leadership, management and governance assured high-quality, person-centred care; supported learning and innovation; and promoted an open culture. We found leaders had improved governance systems to provide oversight of staff competency and performance and developed patient engagement by including a patient representation on the Council.

Further commentary is provided in the quality statements section of this report.

6, 7 and 20 June 2023

During a routine inspection

This service is rated as requires improvement overall.

The service had previously been inspected on between 25 March and 15 April 2021, with a follow up inspection taking place between 10 November and 8 December 2021. The latter inspection rated the service as requires improvement overall and in the safe, effective and well led key questions. Caring and responsive were rated as good. The service was found to be in breach of regulations 12, 17 and 18 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008, and requirement notices were served. A further inspection was carried out on 20 and 21 October, and 7 November 2022. In this inspection the service was again found to be in breach of regulations 12, 17 and 18 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008. The service was rated inadequate, conditions were issued and the service was placed into special measures.

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Barking Urgent Treatment Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of Barking Urgent Treatment Centre on 6, 7 and 20 June 2023. We found that some of the breaches of regulation from the previous inspection had been fully addressed, but for others whilst progress had been made there was more to do. Following this inspection, the key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Requires improvement

Are services effective? – Requires improvement

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Requires improvement

Are services well-led? – Requires improvement

At this inspection we found:

  • The rating of the service had improved from inadequate to requires improvement. Significant work had taken place to address the breaches identified at the previous inspections, however in a few areas whilst there was progress there was still more improvements needed.
  • The service had begun to monitor more effectively the safety of the care it provided, and its performance was improving, but was still not meeting requirements specified by NHS England. Systems were now in place to monitor the time taken for patients to have their initial clinical assessment. However only 65% of patients were having this assessment within the 15 minute target. This meant there was an ongoing risk of patients needing urgent medical attention not being identified in a timely manner. An action plan was in place to continue to make improvements in meeting this target.
  • Patients were not consistently able to access care and treatment at the service in a timely way. The service had a target to provide treatment and discharge the patient within 4 hours. The service was meant to achieve this for 95% of patients but the average was 90-95% so slightly below the target.
  • Staffing at the service was not in line with the rotas that workforce planning exercises had deemed necessary. The rotas showed that there was a gap of 10% for the urgent care practitioners each month, meaning there were times when there were not enough staff working.
  • The service was not consistently monitoring the effectiveness of the work of individual clinicians. Not all the clinicians were receiving consistent regular and high-quality clinical supervision. In addition, the audits of clinicians notes were not taking place as robustly as needed to ensure all clinicians were delivering appropriate clinical care.
  • The service did not yet have formal mechanisms to engage with patient groups.
  • Whilst governance processes had improved, there was still scope for these to be further strengthened, particularly in terms of ensuring staff performance was adequately monitored.

However, the following areas had been addressed:

  • The service had improved the management of incidents and complaints, and mechanisms were in place to share learning.
  • Leaders now had the capacity and skills to deliver high-quality, sustainable care.
  • The service had developed a clear vision and credible strategy to deliver high quality care.

The areas where the provider must make improvements as they are in breach of regulations are:

  • Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients.
  • Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.
  • Ensure sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, competent, skilled and experienced persons are deployed to meet the fundamental standards of care and treatment.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

  • Review storage of medicines at the service.
  • Review the detail required in the review of clinical competencies.

I am taking this service out of special measures. This recognises the improvements that have been made to the quality of care provided by this service.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Health Care

20 and 21 October, and 7 November 2022

During a routine inspection

This service is rated as Inadequate overall. The service had previously been inspected on between 25 March and 15 April 2021, with a follow up inspection taking place between 10 November and 8 December 2021. The latter inspection rated the service as requires improvement overall and in the safe, effective and well led key questions. Caring and responsive were rated as good. The service was found to be in breach of regulations 12, 17 and 18 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008, and requirement notices were served.

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Barking Urgent Treatment Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of Barking Urgent Treatment Centre on 20 and 21 October, and 7 November 2022. We found that some of the breaches of regulation from the previous inspection had been addressed, but others had not been. We also found breaches in other areas.

This inspection was part of a follow up on our previous system wide review of urgent and emergency care services across the North East London (NEL) integrated care system that was carried out in November 2021. At that time, we identified issues with flow in and through the urgent and emergency (UEC) pathway and had significant concerns regarding the impact of this on safety and quality of care. Due to ongoing concerns regarding the UEC pathway and patient safety, during November 2022 we inspected all four urgent treatment centres (UTC) provided by the Partnership of East London Cooperatives (PELC), and both emergency departments (ED) and medical care provided by Barking Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT). Subsequent to significant concerns that were identified at these locations, the Commission found that the challenges these services faced were also complicated by wider challenges within the health and social care system. A Quality Summit with NHS England and system wide partners was convened to devise an action plan to address the concerns identified.

Following this inspection, the key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Inadequate

Are services effective? – Requires improvement

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Inadequate

Are services well-led? – Inadequate

At this inspection we found:

  • The service could not be assured that it was providing safe care to patients attending the service, particularly those with potentially serious conditions.
  • There were insufficient procedures and processes in place to ensure learning from incidents and complaints. There were not clear systems in place to demonstrate improvements when things went wrong.
  • 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. However, the service was not meeting the targets specified by its commissioners.
  • The organisation did not have sufficient procedures in place to ensure that effective staffing was being provided.
  • Staff involved and treated people with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
  • Patients were not able to access care and treatment at the service in a timely way.
  • Leaders did not have the capacity and skills to deliver high-quality, sustainable care.
  • There were some clear responsibilities, roles and systems of accountability to support good governance and management. However, lines of accountability and designated decision-making authority were unclear.
  • The service did not have a clear vision and credible strategy to deliver high quality care and promote good outcomes for patients.

The areas where the provider must make improvements as they are in breach of regulations are:

  • Ensure systems and processes are established and operated effectively to ensure compliance with the requirements of safe care and treatment.
  • Ensure systems and processes are established and operated effectively to ensure compliance with the requirements of good governance.
  • Ensure systems and processes are established and operated effectively to ensure compliance with the requirements of good staffing.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

  • Review compliance with infection protection and control guidance at the site.

I am placing this service in special measures. Services placed in special measures will be inspected again within six months. If insufficient improvements have been made such that there remains a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures to begin the process of preventing the provider from operating the service. This will lead to cancelling their registration or to varying the terms of their registration within six months if they do not improve.

The service will be kept under review and if needed could be escalated to urgent enforcement action. Where necessary, another inspection will be conducted within a further six months, and if there is not enough improvement we will move to close the service by adopting our proposal to remove this location or cancel the provider’s registration.

Special measures will give people who use the service the reassurance that the care they get should improve.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

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

10, 11, 17, 18 and 25 November 2021

During a routine inspection

This service is rated as Requires Improvement overall. The service had previously been inspected on between 25 March and 15 April 2021. That report rated the service as requires improvement overall and in the safe key question, inadequate for well led, and good for the effective, caring and responsive key questions. The service was found to be in breach of regulations 12 and 17 of HSCA (RA) 2014, and two warning notices were issued. The specific issues found which breached regulation 12 related to infection control procedures not being followed. The breaches of regulation 17 related to a lack of leadership and clear governance processes, and the culture within the organisation.

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of Barking Urgent Treatment Centre on 10, 11, 17, 18 and 25 November 2021. We are mindful of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. We will continue to discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so. We found that some of the breaches of regulation from the previous inspection had been addressed, but others had not been. We also found breaches in other areas. Following this inspection, the key questions are rated as:

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Requires improvement

Are services effective? – Requires improvement

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Requires improvement

At this inspection we found:

  • The service had good systems to manage risk in most areas so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When they did happen, the service learned from them and improved their processes. However, incidents were not being processed within their own specified timelines.
  • The organisations own audits showed that best infection control practice was not being consistently followed.
  • 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. However, the service was not meeting the targets specified by its commissioners.
  • The organisation did not have sufficient procedures in place to ensure that effective staffing was being provided.
  • Staff involved and treated people with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
  • Patients were able to access care and treatment from the service, although it was not routinely meeting the four-hour target for patient throughput.
  • The leadership and governance functions at the organisation had been improved and were mostly in line with its constitution. However, some governance functions did not meet the needs of the organisation.
  • Staff that we interviewed stated that the culture of the organisation had improved since the previous inspection, although some staff said that they were not listened to.

The areas where the provider must make improvements as they are in breach of regulations are:

  • Ensure that care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients. Systems or processes must be established and operated effectively to ensure compliance with the requirements of the fundamental standards as set out in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.
  • Ensure systems and processes are established and operated effectively to ensure compliance with the requirements of good governance. Systems or processes must be established and operated effectively to ensure compliance with the requirements of the fundamental standards as set out in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.
  • Ensure systems and processes are established and operated effectively to ensure compliance with the requirements of good staffing. Systems or processes must be established and operated effectively to ensure compliance with the requirements of the fundamental standards as set out in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care

25, 26, 29, 30 March, 14 and 15 April 2021

During a routine inspection

This service is rated as requires improvement overall.

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of Barking Urgent Treatment Centre between 25 March and 15 April 2021. We are mindful of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. We will continue to discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Requires improvement

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Inadequate

At this inspection we found:

  • Leadership processes at the service were unclear.
  • The organisation was not following it’s own constitution, and was not able to demonstrate a clear vision, a positive culture or clear and consistent governance processes.
  • The service had some systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. However, we noted that infection control processes were not consistently followed, and that significant event processes were unclear.
  • 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.

The areas where the provider must make improvements as they are in breach of regulations are:

  • Ensure that care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients. Systems or processes must be established and operated effectively to ensure compliance with the requirements of the fundamental standards as set out in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014
  • Ensure systems and processes are established and operated effectively to ensure compliance with the requirements of good governance. Systems or processes must be established and operated effectively to ensure compliance with the requirements of the fundamental standards as set out in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

  • Ensure that the website is available to meet patient needs.
  • Ensure that confidentiality is maintained at the streaming desk.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care