Archived: Minor Injuries Unit

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Minor Injury Unit on 5 September 2017. We inspected the service provided by Market Harborough and Bosworth Partnership, which operated from Monday to Friday 8.30am to 5pm. We did not inspect the minor injuries service operated by another provider that used the same premises from 5pm to 9.30pm daily and at weekends and bank holidays

Overall the Minor Injury Unit is rated as good.

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

• Market Harborough and Bosworth partnership had a governance framework in place with systems and processes in place to support the delivery of their strategy.

• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and a system in place for reporting and recording significant events.
• There was an effective system in place to safeguard adults and children from abuse.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• Patients’ care needs were assessed and delivered in a timely way according to need.
• Written protocols provided staff with sufficient guidance for staff when patients attend the minor injury unit.
• Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance. Staff had been trained to provide them with the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• Information about services and how to complain was not visible and some staff did not know how to access complaints information or the correct process for patients to follow if they wished to make a complaint.
• Staff at the Minor Injury Unit worked proactively with other organisations and providers to develop services that supported alternatives to hospital admission where appropriate and improved the patient experience.
• The service had facilities which were well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management.
• The service proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

• Provide information about how to complain that was visible to patients and make all staff aware of the correct process.

• Display key patient information within the patient waiting area such as chaperoning advice, zero tolerance policy, translation services and health promotion material.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice