GP Health Partners at Leatherhead Community Hospital

Updated 22 June 2020

GP Health Partners Ltd is a formal alliance of 19 General Practices who deliver a range of services for the local population. Services include a dedicated children’s clinic, chronic disease management, cervical screening, cardiology diagnostics and an extended access GP service (evening and weekend GP face to face appointments and an on line e-consultation service (LIVI) appointments seven days a week). Patients stay registered with their own GP practice but are able to access the enhanced services through a hub of eight GP practices.

The 19 practices which form the federation are:-

Ashley Centre Surgery - KT18 5DD

Ashlea Medical Practice - KT21 2BQ

Cobham Health Centre - KT11 1HT

Derby Medical Centre - KT19 8AG

Eastwick Park Medical Practice - KT23 3ND

Fairfield Medical Centre - KT23 4DH

Fountain Surgery - KT17 1TG

Heathcote Medical Centre - KT20 5TH

Longcroft Clinic - SM7 3HH

Molebridge Practice - KT22 7PZ

Nork Clinic - SM7 1HL

Oxshott Medical Practice - KT22 0QJ

Shadbolt Park House Surgery - KT4 7BX

Spring Street Surgery - KT17 1TG

St Stephens House Surgery - KT21 2DP

Stoneleigh Surgery - KT17 2LZ

The Integrated Care Partnership - KT17 4BL

Tadworth Medical Centre - KT20 5JE

Tattenham Health Centre - KT18 5NU

The practices which form the hub where patients can be seen are (phone lines are open from 8:00 on Saturdays):

The Derby Medical Centre

8 The Derby Square, Epsom KT19 8AG

Monday – Friday: 18:30 – 21:30

Saturday: 09:00 – 19:30

Sunday: 09:00 – 13:00

Leatherhead Hospital

Poplar Road, Leatherhead KT22 8SD

Monday – Friday: 18:30 – 21:30

Saturday: 09:00 – 19:30

Sunday: 09:00 – 13:00

Nork Clinic

63 Nork Way, Banstead SM7 1HL

Monday, Tuesday: 18:30 – 21:30

Tadworth Medical Centre

1 Troy Close, Tadworth KT20 5JE

Monday, Thursday: 18.30 – 21.30

Saturday: 09:00 – 19:30

Cobham Health Centre

168 Portsmouth Road, Cobham KT11 1HT

Monday, Friday: 18.30 – 21.30

Saturday: 09:00 – 19:30

Bourne Hall Health Centre

(Fountain Practice) Chessington Road, Epsom KT17 1TG

Wednesday: 18.30 – 21.30

Saturday: 09:00 – 19:30

Children’s Clinics are run 4pm – 8pm from:

Monday (alternate weeks)

Fairfield Medical Centre, Lower Road, Leatherhead KT23 4DH

Fitznells Manor Surgery, 2 Chessington Road, Ewell KT17 1TF

Tuesday

Heathcote Medical Centre, Heathcote, Tadworth KT20 5TH

Wednesday

Nork Clinic, 63 Nork Way, Banstead SM7 1HL

Thursday

Linden House Surgery (Ashlea Practice),

30 Upper Fairfield Road, Leatherhead KT22 7HH

Friday

Derby Medical Centre, 8 The Derby Square, Epsom KT19 8AG

During this inspection we visited:

Derby Medical Centre, 8 The Derby Square, Epsom KT19 8AG,

Heathcote Medical Centre, Heathcote, Tadworth KT20 5TH

Leatherhead Hospital Poplar Road, Leatherhead KT22 8SD

This service is registered with Care Quality Commission (CQC) under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and provides the following regulated activities:

• Diagnostic and screening
• Treatment of disease, disorder or injury

The provider has a governing board which includes a Clinical Director, Managing Director, Company Secretary, and three non-Executive Directors. The provider has centralised governance for its services which are co-ordinated by the Clinical Director, Managing Director, Operations Manager, Operational Administrator and a part time Hub Manager.

The Clinical Director 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 practice is run.

As part of our inspection we asked for CQC comment cards to be completed by clients prior to our inspection visit. In total, across the three sites we visited, we received 58 comment cards which were wholly positive about the service and nature of staff. Other forms of feedback, including patient surveys were positive.

Updated 22 June 2020

This service is rated as Requires Improvement overall.

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Requires Improvement

Are services effective? – Requires Improvement

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Requires Improvement

Are services well-led? – Inadequate

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at GP Health Partners Ltd as part of our inspection programme. This was the first inspection of this extended access service. Our inspection included a visit to the service’s headquarters and to three of the locations where the service operated. These were Derby Medical Centre, 8 The Derby Square, Epsom KT19 8AG, Heathcote Medical Centre, Heathcote, Tadworth KT20 5TH and Leatherhead Hospital Poplar Road, Leatherhead KT22 8SD.

Our key findings were:

• Patients were supported and treated with dignity and respect. Services were offered daily from several hub locations across the 19 practices, ensuring the service was accessible to all patients.
• Patients were able to access care and treatment from the service within an appropriate timescale for their needs.
• Care and treatment was delivered according to evidence-based guidelines.
• Patients found the appointment system easy to use and reported they were able to access care when they needed it.
• The federation had reviewed the needs of their local population and ensured that additional services were offered. For example, cytology screening, asthma clinics and cardiology services.

However, we also found that:

• The service had not ensured care and treatment was always provided in a safe way to patients.
• The service was unable to assure themselves that people received effective care and treatment.
• The leadership and governance of the service did not assure the delivery of high-quality care.
• The service could not evidence that all the checks required to employ staff appropriately were in place.
• The service could not evidence that some clinical staff had been appropriately trained to undertake the tasks delegated to them.
• The service had not implemented effective systems to ensure appropriate and safe provision of emergency medicines and equipment.
• The service did not have systems and processes in place to ensure that safety alerts were managed effectively.
• We found that policies and procedures were not always written and shared with staff to govern activity and ensure staff were adhering to the same processes.
• The service did not have systems and processes to give assurance that staff would raise, share and record all significant events. There was no clear evidence to demonstrate that any identified learning was shared with the whole service team.
• The service did not always have oversight of the premises from where they delivered services. For example, the service had not reviewed premises management information sent from the host sites and had not followed up areas of non-compliance, so were unaware if the host sites had rectified problems found.

The areas where the provider must make improvements, as they are in breach of regulations, are:

• Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients.
• Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.
• Ensure staff who are suitably qualified, competent, skilled and experienced persons, are deployed to meet the fundamental standards of care and treatment.
• Ensure recruitment procedures are established and operated effectively to ensure only fit and proper persons are employed.
• Ensure systems and processes for managing significant events and complaints are robust and there are mechanisms for sharing information and learning with all staff to encourage improvements.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGPChief

Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care