Health service passes quality inspection with flying colours

Company news

Jan 31, 2014

A health service which covers Greater Manchester has passed a national quality audit with flying colours.

The Greater Manchester NHS Clinical Assessment and Treatment Service (GM CATS) received a routine inspection from the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the independent regulator of all health and social care services in England. The CQC inspector passed the centre on all five core standards:

• consent to care and treatment
• cooperating with other providers
• requirements relating to workers
• assessing and monitoring the quality of service provision
• complaints.

The service is operated by Care UK, a leading independent provider of health and social care services, and services are commissioned by the local NHS. It provides high quality healthcare at convenient locations in the Greater Manchester area. Services include urology, ENT, gynaecology, musculoskeletal and general surgery.

It has onsite diagnostics that use the very latest technology, including MRI, x-ray, ultrasound and CT scanning. In most cases patients can see a consultant and have any diagnostic tests required in the same appointment.

GM CATS consists of mobile clinics which rotate between sites around Greater Manchester, typically spending four or five days at each site before moving on overnight. Patients are referred to the service by their GPs.

The CQC inspector’s report praised the service, saying: “We found robust policies and procedures were in place to ensure the safety of both patients and staff. Patients who used this service gave valid consent to examination and treatment and were given sufficient information to enable them to make informed choices. We looked at pathways and found care and treatment was planned in a way which intended to ensure people's safety and welfare. GM CATS had a robust process in place to monitor and evaluate the quality of the service offered to clients. There were up to date policies and procedures in place to ensure the safety of both staff and patients.”

Pat Phillips, operations manager at Greater Manchester NHS CATS, said: “We are pleased to have passed this important inspection – our third consecutive CQC pass – and we are delighted with the comments from the inspector. The inspector’s conclusions are testimony to the dedicated work of the entire team at GM CATS.”