We are proud to announce that our Mid and South Essex integrated urgent care service has been rated as ‘Good’ by the Care Quality Commission.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) visited inspected IC24’s services at the end of November 2022. The inspection covered the components of the integrated urgent care service within the region, which are the NHS 111 service, clinical assessment service and the ‘out of hours’ service.

The following key questions are rated:

• Are services safe?
• Are services effective?
• Are services caring?
• Are services responsive?
• Are services well led?

In each of the five domains IC24 was rated as ‘Good’.

Inspectors found that the organisation routinely reviews the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided, and that employees treated patients with dignity and respect. Inspectors observed our team going out of their way to help patients and treated patients with kindness, respect and compassion.

The report detailed how our clinical workforce is effective and had a positive impact in supporting the 999 service and emergency departments by validating significant volumes of calls and, by downgrading the acuity through clinical intervention, were able to reduce pressure on the other areas of the health service.

The inspection found that IC24 understands the needs of its population and tailored services in response to those needs. For example, our involvement in quality improvement projects to improve the care offered to palliative patients by streamlining the palliative patient pathway.

A strong culture of innovation was also evidenced by the number of pilot schemes IC24 is involved in. For example, IC24 holds the contract for the nationwide paediatric clinical assessment service. This was accessed via 111 and meant that calls could be streamlined from 111 directly to a paediatrician.

Dr Andrew Catto, Chief Executive Officer at IC24 said: ‘I’m really proud of our team in Mid and South Essex, who demonstrate great care for our patients every day in the region. The past few years have been challenging as we’ve faced a global pandemic, as well as the recent sustained pressure that the NHS has found itself under. However we have continued to innovate and establish new and improved ways to deliver great patient care and I would like to say a big thank you to the team in Essex.’