Archived: IPC HQ

Updated 20 February 2020

Innovations in Primary Care Headquarters (IPC) is a not for profit GP federation. The federation is set up to support independent general practices within the Coastal West Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group (CWSCCG) to provide high quality patient care. It covers 50 GP practices and over 500,000 patients. IPC has contracts with CWSCCG to provide extended access to GP services and a vasectomy service. During the winter months it also provides a GP home visiting service. These services are registered with CQC as they involve the provision of regulated activities. In addition, IPC provides a range of non-regulated activities, which include procurement, training, support for primary care networks, clinical pharmacists, support for vulnerable practices, facilitated mental health workers and first contact physiotherapists.

IPC run their services from their administrative headquarters at: -

Units 8-11 Orchard Industrial Estate,

8-10 Fitzalan Road,

Arundel,

West Sussex

BN18 9JS.

We visited the headquarters and three GPAH locations, reviewed documents and spoke with staff as part of our inspection. The address of the locations we visited were:

St Lawrence Surgery, 79 St Lawrence Ave, Worthing, BN14 7JL

New Pond Row Surgery, 35 South Street, Lancing, BN15 8AN

Maywood Surgery, 225 Hawthorn Rd, Bognor Regis PO21 2UW

The extended access service is provided from 22 GP practice locations across CWSCCG which any patient can access regardless of where they are registered. IPC rent the facilities from the GP practices through a service level agreement.

The vasectomy service includes a pre-counselling service and no scalpel procedure at health centres in both the Worthing and Bognor Regis areas of West Sussex. The facilities at each location are rented by IPC through at service level agreement. We did not visit these locations as part of this inspection. However, the health centres from which they are provided have all been inspected by the CQC as part of our GP inspection programme.

IPC is registered to provide the regulated activities:

• Diagnostic and screening procedures
• Treatment of disease, disorder or injury
• Surgical procedures

Updated 20 February 2020

This service is rated as Good.

This was the first time that this service had been inspected and rated.

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 Innovations in Primary Care Headquarters (IPC) as part of our inspection programme.

The registered services provided by IPC include extended access to GP and nurse appointments provided at 22 practices known as GP Access Hubs (GPAH) across the Coastal West Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group area. The GPAHs provide patients with access to appointments for minor illness with a GP, nurse or paramedic practitioner, outside of their usual practice opening hours at various practice locations within the locality. The service is provided seven days a week up until 8pm Monday to Friday and from 10am until 1pm on Saturday and Sundays. The GPAHs also provide nurse led clinics for asthma and diabetes reviews, family planning, cervical screening and sexual health advice.

IPC provides a no scalpel vasectomy (NSV) service. This includes initial consultations and appointments for the procedure. Appointments are scheduled on various weekdays in early evening clinics by a team of consultant surgeons, nurses and healthcare assistants. The service is provided from health centres in the Bognor Regis and Worthing localities.

We received feedback from 90 patients about the GPAH service. All but one was positive. Patients commented on how good it was to have such a service and that their appointments were easy to book and ran to time. They described staff as friendly, helpful and professional. They commented that premises were clean and hygienic. The negative comment was about whether the service was suitable for older patients especially in the evenings if they had to travel to an unfamiliar location.

We received feedback from six patients about the vasectomy service. All the comments were positive. Patients commented that they received a great service. They said that staff were friendly and professional and made them feel comfortable and at ease.

Our key findings were:

• The service had good 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 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.
• Patients were able to access care and treatment from the service within an appropriate timescale for their needs.
• Staff had the training and supervision they needed to carry out their roles effectively. They were given opportunities to develop.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning, improvement and innovation at all levels of the organisation.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Review arrangements for the recording of checks completed for emergency medicines and equipment.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGPChief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care