Doncaster Urgent Care Centre still requires improvement after Care Quality Commission issued warning notices
“We saw improvements at this inspection in the areas of safe, effective and well led”
Doncaster’s Urgent Care Centre requires improvement following a visit by the Care Quality Commission.
The visit to the site, within Doncaster Royal Infirmary, follows a visit in December 2025 when they issued warning notices following an inspection.
These were for breaches of regulations relating to safe care and treatment and good governance.
The service is provided and run by FCMS (NW) Limited and since the second visit inspectors said: “We carried out this 16 June 2026 announced assessment of seven quality statements to assess compliance with the issues identified in the warning notices.
“The service was not in breach of any further legal regulations at this inspection. We saw improvements at this inspection in the areas of safe, effective and well led, however, the provider will remain rated as requires improvement until we complete a further, more comprehensive inspection, of the service.
The “safe” element of the inspection still fell into the inadequate category.
Doncaster Urgent Care Centre is an urgent treatment centre under a contract held with NHS England. It is co-located with the urgent and emergency care department at Doncaster Royal Infirmary which is provided by Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Most patients access the out-of-hours service by calling NHS 111. Patients who contact the service may be provided with advice, receive a telephone consultation, an appointment or a home visit, depending on their needs.
The report said: “Other patients may access the service by walking into the Urgent and Emergency Care (UEC) department (we will refer to this as ‘The Front Door’ for the purposes of this report) at Doncaster Royal Infirmary and being redirected to the urgent treatment centre waiting area, after booking in at UEC’s reception.
“The provider is registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide the regulated activities of Treatment of Disease, Disorder and Injury; and Transport services, triage and medical advice provided remotely. The service is open 24 hours per day, 7 days a week (including bank holidays). “
People gave mixed opinions about the quality of their care and treatment.
Recent survey results, including from NHS Friends and Family Test, showed people were satisfied with services. The service collected patient experience feedback through the Friends and Family Test (FFT), sent automatically via SMS following patient contact.
While responses were anonymous and could not be actioned individually, aggregated themes were reviewed internally and were included within monthly reporting to the Integrated Care Board and Clinical Governance Meetings.
Over the previous 12 months, feedback had been predominantly positive, particularly in relation to staff professionalism, communication, clinical explanations and the kindness and reassurance provided by clinicians and nursing staff.
Negative feedback mainly related to waiting times, communication at reception, and situations where patients’ expectations exceeded the scope of the service (e.g. blood tests).