The Shrubberies Medical Centre

Updated 14 May 2019

The provider of the service is Healthbridge Direct Limited. This is a group of local general practitioners who have agreed to work together to offer a health service provided by clinicians with expertise in, understanding of, and commitment to their local communities. Healthbridge Direct has three executive board members and nine local clinical lead directors, who are all local GPs with practices in the London borough of Redbridge. The clinical team are supported by an delivery team of seven led by an interim Head of Operations which includes an operations manager and and a network support and office manager. Healthbridge Direct Limited employs a mixture of approximately 58 male and female GP’s to provide patient facing consultation services. Healthbridge Direct Limited has contracted with BHR GP solutions a separate company that provides the call centre the extended access primary care hub.

The service is commissioned by the Local Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) for the residents of Redbridge who are registered with a local GP practice. It is commissioned for patients who are assessed as having an urgent primary care need to support NHS 111, A&E, GP practices and urgent care centres. It does not provide a service for patients who required on going treatment for long-term conditions, palliative care, and maternity care.

The management team for Healthbridge Direct Limited is based at The Vintry, Redbridge Lane East, IG4 5EY.

The call handling is based at CEME Innovations Centre, Marsh way, Rainham Essex RM13 8EU. This is operated by a business manager and assistant, a rota manager, two supervisors and a team of call handlers. A second call handling centre for the in-hours service is located at The Vintry, Redbridge.

The extended and in-hours access service is located at Southdene Surgery in a converted premises. It is located at The Shrubberies, George Lane, South Woodford, London, E18 1BD within a predominantly commercial area of South Woodford in the London borough of Redbridge. Patients book an appointment by telephoning their GP practice, and other urgent care centres or calling the services direct line. The service does not see patients who walk in without a booked appointment.

The service operated from Monday to Friday from 1pm to 4pm and again from 6:30pm to 10pm and between 11am and 4pm on Saturday and Sunday.

The call handlers book appointments from Monday to Friday from 2pm to 9pm and Saturday 9am to 5pm and Sunday 9am to 4pm. The call handling service for the in-hours service is operated between the hours of 10am to 2pm.

The provider Healthbridge Direct Limited is registered with the CQC to provide the regulated activity treatment of disease, disorder and injury, family planning and diagnostics and screening procedures.

Updated 14 May 2019

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 Southdene Surgery on 12 March 2019 as part of our inspection programme of primary care services.

At this inspection we found:

• The service had good 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.
• The service had systems for sharing information with staff and amongst relevant stakeholders to ensure them to deliver safe care and treatment.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.
• There was regular communication between the service and the location from where services were being delivered to ensure that local policies for building management where compliant with the service providers policies.
• Staff we spoke we were able to describe the service ethos, told us the management were approachable and were happy to work at the service.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• The provider should consider the use of interpretation services to aid staff at the call centre.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care