North Petherton Surgery

Updated 8 February 2023

North Petherton Surgery is located at:

North Petherton Surgery

Mill Street

North Petherton

Bridgwater

TA6 6LX

The practice had a dispensary onsite which served approximately 20% of the patient population.

In October 2021 the practice was taken over by Symphony Health Services who are the registered provider for this service. The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening procedures, maternity and midwifery services and treatment of disease, disorder or injury and surgical procedures at this service.

The practice is situated in the Somerset Integrated Care Board (ICB) and delivers General Medical Services (GMS) to a patient population of approximately 6500. This is part of a contract held with NHS England.

The practice is open between 8.30am to 6.00pm Monday to Friday. The practice offers a range of appointment types including book on the day, telephone consultations and advance appointments.

Out of hours services are provided by 111.

Updated 8 February 2023

We carried out an announced comprehensive at North Petherton Surgery on 8 December 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as good.

Safe - Good

Effective - Good

Caring - Good

Responsive - Good

Well-led - Good

Why we carried out this inspection

We carried out this inspection in line with our inspection priorities. This is the first inspection under the current provider Symphony Health Services.

How we carried out the inspection.

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site.

This included:

• Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing.
• Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system (this was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements).
• Reviewing patient records to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider.
• Requesting evidence from the provider.
• A short site visit.

Our findings

We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service on a combination of:

• what we found when we inspected
• information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services and
• information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.

We found that:

• The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
• The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.

Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:

• Continue processes to ensure patient records are summarised as necessary.
• Establish formal processes to provide supervision and support for non-clinical staff.
• Establish formal supervision processes for non-medical prescribers including routine quality audits of prescribing practices.
• Continue to identify processes to improve cervical screening uptake and routine recalls for care and treatment.

Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Hospitals and Interim Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services