Archived: NEMS Community Benefit Services Limited Also known as NEMS CBS

Updated 25 April 2014

NEMS Community Benefit Services Limited (NEMS CBS) is a 'not-for-profit' company that holds contracts to deliver NHS services on behalf Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire South Clinical Commissioning Groups.

As a 'not for profit' company, it does not pay money to shareholders and any surplus is reinvested to improve services. It provided an out-of-hours General Practitioner (GP) service for around 722,000 people living within Nottingham City and southern Nottinghamshire. The service is provided from the principle operating base and treatment centre at 484 Derby Road, Nottingham but it also provided a GP and nursing presence at the Nottingham Urgent Primary Care Assessment Centre located in the emergency department at The Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham from 10am to midnight.

They were open whenever GP surgeries were closed. This was weekday between 6.30 pm and 8 am, plus 24 hours a day at weekends and public holidays.

Calls from patients to their GP during out-of-hours periods are directed to the NHS 111 telephone service, which refer patients where necessary to NEMS. These referrals amounted to between approximately 1,900 and 2,500 per month in 2013. The total number of referrals for the year 2013 was almost 25,000.

The service provided consultations on an appointment basis at the Derby Road location but also carried out home visits to patients who were assessed as not being fit enough to travel to the treatment centre for a consultation.

NEMS provided a patient transport service to facilitate patients to attend consultations at the treatment centre who would otherwise have had difficulty through lack of private or public transport.

NEMS worked closely alongside other primary healthcare services such as midwives and community nursing, Social Services Emergency Duty Team and Mental Health Crisis Team.

NEMS did not provide a ‘walk in’ service from its main treatment centre for out-of-hours patients, however staff told us that when a patient presented themselves without having an agreed appointment they were always seen. Following their initial assessment they would then be allocated an appointment and may have had to wait until an appropriate clinician was available.

Updated 25 April 2014

NEMS Community Benefit Services Limited (NEMS CBS) provides out-of-hours General Practitioner (GP) services for around 722,000 people living within Nottingham City and southern Nottinghamshire.

We carried out the inspection as part of our new inspection programme to test our approach going forward. It took place over two days with a team including two CQC inspectors, a GP practice manager and an expert-by-experience.

We found the service was effective in meeting patient needs and had taken positive steps to ensure people who may have difficulty in accessing services were enabled to do so. NEMS had in place an effective system to ensure that patient information was promptly shared with each patient’s own GP to ensure continuity of care.

Patients told us that they were happy with the care and treatment they received from the staff at NEMS and they felt safe. There were robust systems in place to help ensure patient safety through learning from incidents and the safe management of medicines. The provider had taken robust steps to ensure that all staff underwent a thorough and rigorous recruitment and induction process to help ensure their suitability to care for patients.

Patients experienced care that was delivered by dedicated and caring staff. People we spoke with praised staff for their kind and caring attitude and we observed patients being treated with respect and kindness whilst their dignity and confidentiality was maintained.

NEMS had effective systems in place to ensure their service could be delivered to the widest range of patients with varying levels of need. There was good collaborative working between the provider and other healthcare and social care agencies which ensured patients received the best outcomes in the shortest possible time.

We found that the service was well-led and managed by an enthusiastic and knowledgeable senior management team, and their values and behaviours were shared by staff. Members of the staff team we spoke with all held very positive views of the management and leadership and felt well supported in their roles. They told us that the senior managers were approachable and listened to any concerns or suggestions they might have to improve the level of service provision.