Integrated Care 24 - Woodingdean Also known as South East Health Limited - Woodingdean

Updated 20 December 2016

Integrated Care 24 Limited – Woodingdean is the registered location for the out-of-hours GP service provided by Integrated Care 24 Limited.

Integrated Care 24 Limited is a not-for-profit social enterprise that provides urgent medical care and advice out-of-hours for patients across much of the south east. The Woodingdean location provides services across Surrey, East Sussex and West Sussex. The service is contracted by the NHS clinical commissioning groups across Surrey and Sussex. It provides primary medical services outside of usual working hours (out-of-hours or OOH) when GP practices are closed, this includes overnight, during weekends and when practices are closed for training. The service covers a population of approximately 1.7 million patients (East Surrey 180,000 East Sussex 534,000 West Sussex 820,000).

Most patients access the out-of-hours service via the NHS 111 telephone service. This service is undertaken by a different provider and calls arrive electronically at IC24 after being triaged by that provider. Patients may be seen by a clinician, at a local primary care centre usually located adjacent to a hospital Accident and Emergency facility, or patients may receive a telephone consultation or a home visit depending on their needs. Some patients access the primary care centres by walking in or are referred from the hospital accident and emergency departments or other urgent care centres.

The health of people in East and West Sussex is varied compared with the England averages. Deprivation is lower than average, however about 33,000 children live in poverty. Life expectancy for both men and women is higher than the England average.

The health of people in East Surrey is generally better than the England averages. About 11% of the child population are affected by income deprivation and there are pockets of deprivation within the area.

The out-of-hours service is provided at the sites shown in the table below, those that were visited in the course of the inspection are shown. The sites are called primary care centres.

The following sites were visited by inspectors

Fracture Clinic, Royal Sussex County Hospital, Eastern Road, Brighton, BN2 5BE

Eastbourne District General Hospital, Kings Drive, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN21 2UD

Hastings - Conquest Fracture Clinic (Next to A&E),Conquest Hospital, The Ridge, St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex TN37 7RD

Uckfield Hospital, Framfield Road, Uckfield, East Sussex,TN22 5AW

Chapel Street Surgery, Chapel Street, Newhaven, East Sussex BN9 9PW

East Surrey Hospital, Canada Avenue, REDHILL, RH1 5RH

Crawley Hospital Level 4 Planned Treatment Centre, West Green Drive, Crawley, RH11 7DH

Princess Royal Hospital, Lewes Road, Hayward’s Heath, West Sussex, RH16 4EX

Worthing Hospital, Lyndhurst Road, Worthing, West Sussex, BN11 2DH

The following sites were not visited by inspectors

East Grinstead Hospital, Holtye Road, East Grinstead, West Sussex, RH19 3DZ

Horsham Hospital, Hurst Rd, Horsham, West Sussex, RH12 2DR

Chichester Hospital, Spitalfield Lane, Chichester, PO19 6SE

Park Surgery, St Flora's Road, Littlehampton, West Sussex, BN17 6BF

Bognor Regis War Memorial Hospital, Shripney Road, Bognor Regis, PO22 9PP

Northbourne Surgery, Thakeham House East Of 193 Upper Shoreham Road, Shoreham-By-Sea, West Sussex, BN43 6TQ

Pulborough Medical Group, Pulborough PCC, Spiro Close, Pulborough, RH20 1F

Bexhill Hospital Irvine Unit, Bexhill Hospital, Holliers Hill , Bexhill, East Sussex,TN40 2DZ

Updated 20 December 2016

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Integrated Care 24 Limited – Woodingdean on 12 and13 July 2016. This is a GP out of hours services which provides health care for urgent medical problems outside normal surgery hours. Overall the service is rated as good.

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

• There was an effective system for reporting and recording significant events. A wide range of events was reported. They were systematically assessed and dealt with.

• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• 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. Comment cards that patients completed confirmed this finding.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand. Improvements were made to the quality of care as a result of complaints and concerns.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment and data showed most patients were seen or contacted in a timely manner. The primary care centres, from which care was delivered, were well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.

• There was a clear leadership structure. Governance framework was strong. Staff felt supported by management. Independent challenge at board level was welcomed.

• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.

We saw one area of outstanding practice:

• The service had a systematic approach to working with other organisations to improve care outcomes. For example they had worked with UK Sepsis Trust to develop a protocol to improve diagnosis, safety and care of patients with sepsis (blood poisoning). The protocol was made widely available.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice