OHP - College Road Surgery

On this page

• Overview
• Person-centred Care
• Care provision, Integration and continuity
• Providing Information
• Listening to and involving people
• Equity in access
• Equity in experiences and outcomes
• Planning for the future

We carried out an announced assessment of one quality statement, equity of access, on 7 March 2024. • The leaders used people’s feedback and other evidence to actively seek to improve access for people. • Services were designed to make them accessible and timely for people who were most likely to have difficulty accessing care. • The provider prioritised, allocated resources and opportunities as needed to tackle inequalities and achieve equity of access.

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

We did not look at Person-centred Care during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

We did not look at Care provision, Integration and continuity during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

We did not look at Providing Information during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

We did not look at Listening to and involving people during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

Practice leaders demonstrated they were aware of the challenges to patient access and had taken action to make improvements. Leaders told us that they had been surprised by the results from the National GP Patient Survey. We saw evidence of audits to try and gain a better understanding of the issues patients faced. They carried out ongoing monitoring of phone access against key performance indicators and had undertaken audits of routine appointments in 2023 and 2024 to identify whether the issues raised could have been addressed without an appointment. Audit results showed an improvement in how appointments were being used. Leaders held regular meetings with reception and admin managers to identify and make adjustments where pressure points were identified. Rotas were in place to help manage workloads and for the allocation of rooms to staff. These were reviewed daily to identify any issues with capacity that needed addressing. Leaders advised that capacity was not generally an issue in meeting service demand. The leaders explained how they provided opportunities and support for different groups of their patient population to overcome health inequalities. For example, the practice had registered as a Safe Surgery helping to remove barriers to people who may not have proof of identity or an address, they shared with us how they ensured members of the LGBT+ community preferred identity was respected and supported. The practice had dedicated GP leads for care homes, regular weekly contacts with the homes helped ensure patients needs were being managed on an ongoing basis reducing the need for appointments. There was also a dedicated palliative care lead to support the continuity of care for those reaching end of life. As well as a cancer and care co-cordinator who maintained contact with patients in order to proactively manage any specific needs the patients may have. We saw that home visits were carried out for patients who needed them.

Our review of patient feedback on access at OHP-College Road Surgery was mixed. Results from the latest National GP Patient Survey in 2023 showed the practice was below national averages for 3 out of the 4 questions relating to access. In particular, 26.8% of patients who responded to the survey said they found it easy to get through to someone at their GP practice on the phone compared to the national average of 49.6%. While satisfaction with appointments offered was higher for the practice at 78.3% compared to the 72.0% national average. National GP Patient Survey trends over the last 5 years showed the practice had generally lower scores than average for access. However, other sources of feedback were much more positive. Following the GP National Patient Survey, the practice carried out their own inhouse survey which showed 79% of patients found it very or fairly easy to get through on the phone and 79 % of patients described their experience of making an appointment good or very good. The practice also undertook an audit of call answering and missed calls and found significant improvements in call answering between November 2022 and November 2023. For example, the average answering time fell from 2.44 minutes to 1.50 minutes. Missed calls had fallen from 12% to 9.6%. Key Performance indicators were introduced for call handling and were being monitored on an ongoing basis. We received feedback from 27 patients about the service, 25 were positive, 1 was mixed and 1 negative. Of the comments that related to access only 1 was negative. The NHS Website had 7 reviews posted in the last 12 months, 6 mentioned access, 3 were positive and 2 negative. Patients were able to access home visits where appropriate. The premises were accessible to patients with mobility needs and interpretation services were available to patients whose first language was not English or if they had other communication needs.

Patients could book appointments by telephone, online, and in person by visiting the practice. The practice offered a range of on the day appointments and pre-bookable appointments 2 to 3 weeks in advance. Data collected by the practice showed approximately two thirds of appointments were face to face. The practice offered appointments with a variety of clinical staff as well as GPs as appropriate for example, physician associate, paramedic, advanced nurse practitioner, practice nurse, Healthcare Assistant, Pharmacists, podiatrist, dietician Social prescriber and mental health practitioner. Text messaging was used to remind patients of their appointments to help minimise non attendance. The practice was open Monday to Friday 8am to 6.30pm for appointments and could offer pre-booked appointments weekday evenings 6.30pm to 8pm and on a Saturday 8am to 5pm at another local GP practice as part of the extended access arrangements within their Primary Care Network. The practice operated a triage system for patients requiring a GP face to face appointment. The GPs reviewed requests enabling them to most effectively manage appointments. The duty doctor was available for urgent appointments and requests for home visits that came in on the day. Clinical system alerts ensured certain patients, who were most vulnerable were prioritised, these were highlighted to the duty doctor to accommodate their needs. Leaders worked closely with their Primary Care Network (PCN) and within their locality to improve access. Through the PCN they were able to offer access to a wider range of health and social care professionals to support patients needs. The reception manager had received training in care navigation and was using this learning to train other staff enabling them to refer patients to the right clinician for their needs and had information to support them to do so.

We did not look at Equity in experiences and outcomes during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.

We did not look at Planning for the future during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Responsive.