Beaumont House

Updated 24 April 2019

The provider is Tower Hamlets GP Care Group CIC, a federation of 36 general practices in Tower Hamlets who has responsibility for a range of community and primary care services. It has been commissioned by Tower Hamlets Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to manage the Tower Hamlets extended hours service for approximately 319,175 patients.

Information published by Public Health England rates the level of deprivation within Tower Hamlets CCG as 35.7, on a scale of one to 204. Level one represents the highest levels of deprivation and level ten the lowest. In England, people living in the least deprived areas of the country live around 20 years longer in good health than people in the most deprived areas.

The head office for the extended hours service is Beaumont House, which is registered as a location with the CQC. The extended hours service provides appointments with GPs, nurses, and healthcare assistants during evenings and weekends when patients’ registered practices are closed.

Appointments are available at five hub practices across Tower Hamlets (all of which are registered with the CQC as GP practices in their own right). Appointments are available at the following times:

Blithehale hub (Blithehale Medical Centre, 22 Dunbridge Street, London E2 6JA)

• Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 6.30pm to 10pm;
• Saturday from 8am to 4pm.

Strouts Place hub (Strouts Place Medical Centre, 3 Strouts Place, London E2 7QU)

• Monday, Tuesday and Friday from 6.30pm to 10pm;
• Saturday from 8am to 2pm.

East One hub (East One Health Centre, 14 Deancross Street, London E1 2QA)

• Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 6.30pm to 10pm;
• Saturday and Sunday from 8am to 8pm.

Harley Grove hub (Harley Grove Medical Centre, 15 Harley Grove, London E3 2AT)

• Monday and Tuesday from 6.30pm to 10pm;
• Saturday from 8am to 2pm.

Gough Walk hub (Gough Walk Practice, 21 Newby Place, London E14 0EY)

• Tuesday from 6.30pm to 10pm;
• Saturday from 9am to 5pm.

Appointments can only be made by a patient's Tower Hamlets GP practice, the Tower Hamlets GP Out of Hour’s service, the NHS 111 service or the Emergency Department of the local hospital (The Royal London Hospital). The service does not accommodate walk-in patients.

The extended hours service is not to be used by patients with long term or chronic health problems, palliative care patients with advance care planning needs, or patients with serious mental health issues or those who require continuity of care.

The service is staffed by a team comprising two chief executives, a director of quality and assurance, a chief operating officer, a medical director, an assistant director of primary care, two clinical leads and a senior administrator. The service directly employs only a small number of staff who work at the hubs (two reception staff members and three nurses); primarily the service uses reception staff, nurses, and healthcare assistants from the specific hub practices within Tower Hamlets, and all the GPs work for the service through an agency.

The provider is registered to provider the regulated activities of: Diagnostic and screening procedures; Family planning; Maternity and midwifery services; Transport services, triage and medical advice provided remotely; and Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

Tower Hamlets GP Care Group CIC has one other location registered with the CQC, which is the GP Out of Hour’s service for Tower Hamlets located at The Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, East London.

The provider’s website is www.gpcaregroup.org.

Updated 24 April 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 of Beaumont House (the Tower Hamlets extended hours service) as part of our inspection programme. As part of the inspection, we also visited one of the hub practices from which the extended hours service operates, at The Blithehale Medical Centre, 22 Dunbridge Street, London E2 6JA.

Our inspection team was led by a CQC lead inspector. The team included a GP specialist adviser, a nurse specialist adviser, and a second CQC inspector.

At this inspection we found:

• There were systems to keep people safeguarded from abuse.

• The service learned and made improvements when things went wrong.

• Care and treatment was delivered according to relevant and current evidence based guidance and standards.

• The provider reviewed and monitored the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care and treatment provided.

• 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.

• The provider supported local practices and secondary care within the London borough of Tower Hamlets.

• The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality and person-centre care.

• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.

We saw one area of notable practice:

• Within an hour of a serious incident occurring at two local practices the service had opened additional hubs and made 90 same day and next day appointments available to ensure both practices’ patients could continue to access care and treatment.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Ensure there is effective oversight of safety at the hub practices and seek evidence that up to date safety risk assessments and audits have been completed.

• Review and formalise the process for monitoring the consultations and performance of nurses and healthcare assistants.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care