Gloucestershire's out of hours health service has improved - CQC

A county's out-of-hours GP service has improved but "further work is needed", regulators say.

Run by Practice Plus Group (PPG), the Gloucestershire service was issued a warning notice by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in November due to safety concerns.

However, a revisit in April, found it had improved and the warning notice "was no longer active."

PPG provides care to 637,000 people in the county when their GP is closed.

The inspection of the service in November found it "required improvement" due to shortfalls, including management of controlled drugs while in transit and oversight and monitoring of mandatory staff training.

Inspectors found the service was "unable to assure themselves of safe and effective care" due to rota fill and staffing issues, which contributed to delays in patient care and satisfaction.

They also said patients that were experiencing delays and were not always monitored effectively.

However, the latest inspection into the specific areas of concern, found the service had made improvements and had met the requirements in relation to the warning notices issued, including providing staff with the relevant training and revising and introducing a process for the safe transportation of controlled drugs.

Systems and processes had also been reviewed for staff responsible for monitoring the safety of patients experiencing delays.

However, they said while policies, systems and processes had been reviewed and where required, had been changed or developed, not all changes had the time to be embedded or evaluated to ensure they were effective.

The CQC said while improvements had been made, the latest inspection was "not extensive enough" to issue new ratings, with the service rating remaining as "requires improvement" overall.

Neil Cox, CQC deputy director of operations in the south, said while the service had "continued to make improvements" since their previous inspection, many of the improvements were "at the development stage and further work was needed to ensure their effectiveness"

"For example, we saw that the provider had not taken action in line with their processes on what happened when an emergency medicine was out of stock. Although information had been shared with staff, there was a risk people would not always receive the right care and treatment in an emergency," he added.

Mr Cox said the CQC will "continue to monitor the service closely, including through future inspections."

A PPG spokesperson said: "We are pleased that the CQC inspectors have recognised the improvements we have been working hard to make in recent months as a result of implementing our action plan."

They said they will "continue to invest in the service," including recruiting new, non-clinical roles and improving staffing on the rota."

"We will continue to work closely with our NHS commissioners and partners across the wider healthcare system in Gloucestershire to address the points raised by the CQC," they added.