Royal Victoria Hospital Also known as Primary Care Access Hub

Updated 26 March 2019

The services are provided by Channel Health Alliance (CHA). CHA is a collaborative federation of 28 GP practices within South Kent Coast CCG. CHA provides five GP led minor illness centres (called hubs). The hubs see patients who are already registered with one of the GP practices who are part of the federation. The aim of the service is to increase capacity in primary care locally and to give patients more timely access to care for minor illness. The majority of care is ‘see and treat’ and completed in the hubs.

There is a physiotherapy service. This service is for people with no previous musculoskeletal history, with no comorbidities (people who also have one or more other diseases or conditions) or any indication of another illness.

There is a home visiting service. CHA took over this service from another provider on 14 August 2018. The service is led by experienced paramedic practitioners. The practitioners lead a team of trained nurses and healthcare assistants, responding to on the day home visit requests on behalf of the practices.

The services work as follows: Patients call their GP practice as they would normally when ill. The practice receptionists, with clinical support, make an appointment, using standardised and locally agreed protocols, for the patient with the appropriate professional in an appropriate hub.

This is not an urgent care service. There are no walk-in patients.

Services are provided from the following locations at the times shown. We visited all the locations

DOVER Buckland Hospital

Monday – Friday 8am to 8pm

Saturday 9am to 5pm

Sunday 10am to 2pm

DEAL Victoria Hospital

Monday – Friday 8am to 8pm

Saturday closed

Sunday closed

FOLKESTONE Royal Victoria Hospital

Monday – Friday 8am to 8pm

Saturday 9am to 5pm

Sunday 10am to 2pm

HYTHE Oaklands Health Centre

Monday – Friday 8am to 8pm

Saturday closed

Sunday closed

ROMNEY MARSH Day Centre

Monday – Friday 8am to 8pm

Saturday closed

Sunday closed.

Updated 26 March 2019

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 Royal Victoria Hospital on 29 and 30 January 2019. This part of our planned inspection programme.

At this inspection we found:

• The service had effective 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 care. 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.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation. The provider demonstrated innovative ways of working to support GP practices in the locality.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care.