SurreyGP

Updated 19 October 2021

SurreyGP is an independent provider of a range of GP services, including consultations, child and adult immunisations, cervical screening, travel health advice and vaccinations, ear syringing, well man and well women screening and advice, sexual health advice and testing. The service is a registered Yellow Fever vaccination centre.

The Registered Provider is SurreyGP Limited.

Services are provided by from 32-34 London Road, Guildford, Surrey, GU1 2AB.

Opening times are:

Monday to Friday: 08:30 - 17:30

Saturdays: One Saturday per month – 2 to 3 hours.

The service website is www.surreygp.com

The service is run from a suite of rooms within a converted, shared building in the centre of Guildford. The service premises are leased by the provider and managed by the landlord. The service is located on the lower ground floor which is accessed via a flight of stairs from the main entrance. There is no wheelchair access to the service. Patients identified as having limited mobility or requiring wheelchair access are offered home visits or are advised to register with another local service. The service comprises two consulting rooms, a waiting room and an administration area. Patients are able to access toilet facilities (including accessible facilities) on the ground floor.

Patients can access services on a fee-paying basis only. Appointments are available face to face, by telephone or via video consultation. If required, following a consultation, a private prescription is issued to the patient to take to a community pharmacy of their choice or some medicines may be dispensed by the service.

Updated 19 October 2021

This service is rated as Good overall.

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services well-led? – Good

We carried out a comprehensive inspection of SurreyGP on 8 November 2019. We identified breaches of regulation 12 (Safe care and treatment) and regulation 17 (Good governance) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 and issued requirement notices. The service was rated as requires improvement for providing safe and well-led services and good for providing effective, caring and responsive services. The service was rated as requires improvement overall.

We carried out this announced comprehensive inspection of SurreyGP between 16 and 17 September 2021 under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008. This inspection was planned to check whether the service was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008. At this inspection we checked that the service was providing safe, effective and well-led services.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has continued to regulate and respond to risk. However, taking into account the circumstances arising as a result of the pandemic, and in order to reduce risk, we have conducted our inspections differently.

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site. This was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements.

This included:

• Speaking with staff in person and using video conferencing.
• Requesting documentary evidence from the provider.
• A site visit.

We carried out an announced site visit to the service on 17 September 2021. Prior to our visit we requested documentary evidence electronically from the provider. We spoke to staff by telephone and using video conferencing, prior to our site visit.

SurreyGP is an independent provider of a range of GP services, including consultations, child and adult immunisations, cervical screening, travel health advice and vaccinations, ear syringing, well man and well women screening and advice, sexual health advice and testing and home visits. The service is a registered Yellow Fever vaccination centre.

This service is registered with CQC under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 in respect of some, but not all, of the services it provides. There are some exemptions from regulation by CQC which relate to particular types of regulated activities and services and these are set out in Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. Services are provided to patients under arrangements made by their employer or insurance provider with whom the servicer user holds an insurance policy (other than a standard health insurance policy). These types of arrangements are exempt by law from CQC regulation. Therefore, we were only able to inspect the services which are not arranged for patients by their employer or insurance provider.

The service is registered with CQC to provide the following regulated activities: Diagnostic and screening procedures; Treatment of disease, disorder or injury; Maternity and midwifery services.

Services are provided by one lead GP who is female and a locum GP who is male. The GPs provide all travel advice and vaccination services.

The Director of Operations is the registered manager. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Our key findings were

• Staff had received training in key areas. There was a clear plan of training for staff and monitoring of training undertaken by clinical staff employed on a sessional basis.
• There were processes in place for performance review and monitoring of clinical staff. Staff employed by the service had undergone appraisals.
• There were effective systems and processes to assess monitor and control the spread of infection.
• There were safeguarding systems and processes to keep people safe. Staff had received training in the safeguarding of adults and children.
• Arrangements for chaperoning were effectively managed. Staff had received chaperone training and had been subject to Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks.
• There were appropriate arrangements to manage medical emergencies and suitable emergency medicines and equipment in place.
• Clinical record keeping was clear, comprehensive and complete.
• There was evidence of clinical audit and review of patient treatment outcomes.
• There were clear and improved governance and monitoring processes to provide assurance to leaders that systems were operating as intended.
• Staff found leaders approachable and supportive and felt they provided an individual service to patients.
• There was frequent and open communication amongst the staff team which was well documented.
• Service users were routinely asked to provide feedback on the service they had received. Complaints were managed appropriately.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Review arrangements for the retention of all records which relate to staff immunisation status.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care