Urgent Care Limited - Social Enterprise

Urgent Care Ltd is a social enterprise to bring together the valuable skills of Emergency Care Practitioners and Nurse Practitioners for first contact, and Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) need to get responsive clinicians providing care at the point of need.

Primary Care Trusts PCTs purchase care on behalf of their population. One of the most expensive ways to get urgent and unscheduled care (or emergency care) is the traditional form - ambulance 'scoops and runs' from the scene and delivers to the A&E department of hospital. Why is it so expensive? You pay for the ambulance, then for the A&E department, then for any care that follows. PCTs sought a lower cost alternative. For many patients, they simply don't need to attend hospital and would receive both the best care but also the most appropriate care with a suitably qualified and experienced first contact practitioner (see ECP). So PCTs sought to buy ECP teams to provide local unscheduled care. Emergency Care Practitioners, trained by Ambulance Trusts, were the ideal solution. When ambulance trust and PCT couldn't agree the Service Level Agreement, we sought to set up an employee-owned company to make the link, deliver the service, and satisfy the needs of the PCT and population in combination with the desire of ECPs to serve. this organisation is Urgent Care Limited, Social Enterprise. As founding chair, I ensured the right funding and cash flow and the initial contracts, the governance and structure of the company, and the Trustees. After 14 months I've stepped aside and the charitable organisation continues to develop.