Wolverhampton Doctors On Call

Updated 30 January 2018

Wolverhampton Doctors On Call (WDOC) is registered with the Care Quality Commission as an urgent care centre. Wolverhampton Doctors On Call is a private limited company. The service holds service level agreements with 12 local Wolverhampton GP practices to provide general medical services to their patients ( approximately 76,000 patients) when the practices are closed on a Wednesday and Thursday afternoon. WDOC also provides a message handling service for practices that close throughout the day. The message handling service informs patients of the opening times of registered GP practice or contacts the on-call GP for the practice and passes on the information received from the patient. WDOC provides services to one of the more deprived areas of the West Midlands. People living in more deprived areas tend to have a greater need for health services.

WDOC is located at East Park Medical Practice, Wolverhampton WV1 2LW. WDOC holds a service level agreement with East Park Medical Practice. The agreement outlines a clear reference to service ownership, accountability, policies and procedures, clinical support roles and/or responsibilities and how WDOC will be supported by these.  The service is staffed by two salaried GPs (one for each afternoon) and the clinicians are supported by a receptionist. The GP director for East Park Medical Practice is also the director of Wolverhampton Doctors On Call and has oversight of the service.

WDOC is open two afternoons a week, Wednesday and Thursday between the hours of 1pm and 6.30pm for patients who wish to see a GP during the afternoons when their registered GP practice is closed. Wolverhampton Doctors On Call do not provide an out of hours service. All services are provided from one location. A message on the patients GP answerphone advises of the telephone contact details for WDOC. Following contact with the service and an initial assessment, patients could be given an appointment to see the GP working for WDOC at the East Park Practice, receive a home visit or receive advice over the telephone.

Updated 30 January 2018

This service is rated as Good overall.

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 Wolverhampton Doctors On Call on 29 November 2017 as part of our inspection programme.

At this inspection we found:

• The service had systems in place to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen.
• Arrangements were in place to ensure learning from significant events were shared with staff.
• 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.
• The service worked proactively with other organisations and providers to ensure patients had access to alternatives to hospital admission or urgent care services where appropriate which improved the patient experience.
• Staff involved and treated people with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• Patients were able to access care and treatment from the service. Comments received from patients said that they found it easy to get an appointment with the GP at a time to meet their needs.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Ensure that systems arrangements are in place to regularly monitor and gain feedback on the quality of the experience of patients, staff and other stakeholders.
• Ensure that a formal system for receiving, recording and analysing feedback, the views and concerns of patients’, staff and external partners is introduced to support improvements in the quality of services offered.

• Ensure that the service level agreement and business plan introduced are working documents and embedded within the organisation.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP

Chief Inspector of General Practice