Four urgent care treatment centres run by Partnership of East London Co-operatives (PELC) Limited have been rated ‘inadequate’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and put in special measures.
The centres, King George’s Emergency Urgent Care Centre (EUCC) in Goodmayes, Queens Urgent Treatment Centre in Romford, Harold Wood Urgent Treatment Centre in Harold Wood, and Barking Urgent Treatment Centre in Barking, were inspected in October and November 2022, and inspectors found patients were “routinely waiting more than two hours for a clinical assessment.”
Two of the centres are attached to hospital emergency departments and treat the majority of patients that arrive with minor injuries and illnesses.
The CQC director for London, Jane Ray said that, “Although each service suffered from short staffing, which was a factor behind the long waits and an issue affecting the NHS more widely, PELC’s leaders must prioritise meeting NHS England’s standard of clinically assessing people within 15 minutes of arrival.”
Full story on The Lowdown, 19 January 2023
