MP in warning over failing out-of-hours Wolverhampton GP service
A private company which runs an out of hours GP unit has been told it has six months to improve or face losing its contract, prompting calls for urgent action from an MP.
Vocare, which operates The West Midlands Doctors Urgent Care unit, based at Wolverhampton’s New Cross Hospital, was issued the warning after The Care Quality Commission gave it a ‘requires improvement’ rating this month.
The report has prompted concerns from city MP Pat McFadden, who said it was ‘absolutely vital’ that patients had access to high quality NHS services.
The Wolverhampton South East MP said: “It is obviously of great concern that such a key service should be judged to be falling below the required standards.
It is absolutely vital that the people of Wolverhampton have access to high quality primary and secondary care and there must be a plan put in place with urgency and determination to turn this situation around.”
The warning comes after the service received an inadequate rating last year when it was placed in special measures. In their latest inspection report, inspectors said there had been some improvements but found that there was not enough staff on duty at all times to undertake triage of patients and minimise excessive waiting times.
In addition, not all staff were trained to appropriate levels in the care of children.
The service is based at New Cross Hospital’s Acute Medical Unit. It is funded by the Wolverhampton Clinical Commissioning Group, which has responsibility for primary care.
A spokesperson for Vocare said the service was making progress.
“In the months prior to the most recent CQC report, the Vocare Urgent Care Service made sufficient progress to be re-rated from ‘inadequate’ to ‘requires improvement’, following a full action and monitoring plan that Vocare agreed and implemented with the local Clinical Commissioning Group,” the spokesperson said. “This is significant progress and we continue to work at a pace to address remaining concerns, confident that the service will continue to improve as it has done.”
