Silverstone Circuits Medical Centre

Updated 31 January 2022

Silverstone Circuits Medical Centre is operated by Silverstone Circuits Limited. The service is located within the grounds of Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire which is one of the main motorsport centres in England.

The service provides emergency medical care within the grounds of the circuit. There is a large medical centre including reception area, treatment rooms, observation bays, staff areas, a training suite and offices. There is an x-ray room only used in the peak of the motorsport season and led by a visiting radiographer.

There is a control centre where visiting first aid organisations and emergency vehicle crews can be co-ordinated during events and race days.

The service has four emergency cars and five emergency ambulances which are used to provide emergency medical care for racing drivers, motorbike riders and visitors within the grounds of Silverstone Circuit.

Any further treatment required, including surgical procedures, are carried out at one of the local hospitals. There is a helipad outside the building with direct access to the medical centre building and treatment rooms. During the peak motorsport season there are helicopters available for quick transfer to a local hospital.

Medical staff work at the service under practising privileges (whereby a medical practitioner is granted permission under a licenced agreement between individual medical professionals and a private healthcare provider to work in an independent hospital or clinic, in independent private practice, or within the provision of community services) and on a sessional basis, including doctors, paramedics and nurses. The staff team is led by a Circuit’s Head of Operations, a Medical Services Manager and a Chief Medical Officer. Following our inspection, there was a change in personnel, whereby the Medical Services Manager (Designate) assumed responsibility for the service and became the Registered Manager.

The service is registered to provide the following regulated activities:

• Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

• Diagnostic and screening procedures.

The medical centre operates on days and times to suit the activities ran by Silverstone Circuit.

Updated 31 January 2022

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Silverstone Circuits Medical Centre on Friday 10 December 2021.

This was the service’s first inspection since it registered with CQC in November 2019.

We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service on a combination of:

• What we found when we inspected.
• Information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services.
• Information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.

How we carried out the inspection:

During the inspection, we visited all areas of the service. We spoke with the Medical Services Manager, Medical Services Manager (Designate), Chief Medical Officer, Head of Operations, paramedics and nursing staff.

We have rated this service as Good overall.

We found that:

• The service had good systems to ensure patients received safe and effective care and treatment.
• There was an effective system to identify and safeguard people from abuse.
• 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.
• Staff involved and treated people with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect. Patient feedback received by the service was very positive.
• Patients could access care and treatment within their preferred timescales.
• Leaders were visible and approachable.
• There was continuous learning and improvement.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• The provider should ensure cleaning schedules are completed to their entirety.
• The provider should strengthen their system to manage staff recruitment, training and appraisal.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care