• Doctor
  • Out of hours GP service

Archived: M-Doc Limited

Halsey Ward, Biggleswade Hospital, Potton Road, Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, SG18 0EL (01767) 315137

Provided and run by:
M - Doc Limited

Latest inspection summary

On this page

Background to this inspection

Updated 25 April 2014

M-Doc provides an evening and weekend out-of-hours primary care service for 10 practices in East Mid Bedfordshire. It was created in 1997 as a GP owned co-operative, but in 2004 made the transition to being a commercial provider. It still provides out-of-hours cover for the same ten GP practices as it did when it was first formed.

The service is responsible for providing primary care when GP surgeries are closed. It covers a population of 88,000 and operates from a single location in Biggleswade Hospital. It claims to be Britain’s smallest commercial out-of-hours provider.

Overall inspection

Updated 25 April 2014

M-Doc provides an evening and weekend out-of-hours primary care service for 10 practices and two Ministry of Defence establishments in East Mid Bedfordshire. The service is responsible for providing primary care when GP surgeries are closed. It covers a population of 88,000 and operates from a single location in Biggleswade Hospital.

All the patients we talked with were very positive about the care they received. We also found that all 49 patients who completed a comment card were very pleased with the service.

Staff told us that they enjoyed their work and liked their working environment. They told us there was a collegial atmosphere, with good working relationships at all levels.

The leadership team was very visible and staff found them very approachable. There was a low turnover of directors of the company as there was no maximum length of time for a director to serve. Directors who were required to resign by rotation were routinely immediately re-elected to the board.

The provider regularly met with the local clinical commissioning group (CCG) to discuss capacity issues and possible service improvements. There was generally a good relationship between the provider and the CCG.

There were problems with the management of medicines within the service. Staff had recorded temperatures in a fridge containing temperature-sensitive medicines that were outside of the safe range for those medicines, but no action had been taken to address the problem. When we pointed this out, the provider immediately took steps to identify patients who had been given medicines that may be less effective by being stored at an incorrect temperature.

The provider had not carried out appraisals on staff for at least two years. This resulted in a risk that poor performance was not being identified and addressed.