Askern Medical Practice

Updated 25 October 2021

Askern Medical Practice is located at:

The White Wings Centre

Spa Pool Road

Askern

Doncaster

DN6 0HZ

There is also a branch surgery:

Mexborough Medical Practice

Mexborough Integrated Healthcare Centre

Alagu Close

Off Highwoods Road

Mexborough

S64 9AE

The opening hours for Askern Medical Practice are:

Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 8am – 6pm

Tuesday 8am – 7.30pm

Alternate Saturdays 9am – 11.30am

The opening hours for Mexborough Medical Practice are:

Monday to Friday 8am – 8pm

Alternate Saturdays 9am to 11am

In addition to being able to book appointments to attend the main and branch surgery, patients can access appointments at the providers other registered practice:

Church View Surgery (also known as Denaby Medical Practice).

Denaby Springwell Centre

Denaby Main

Doncaster

DN12 4AB

They can also attend a practice registered to a separate provider:

Conisbrough Medical Practice

Stone Castle Centre

Gardens Lane

Conisbrough

Doncaster

DN12 3JW

The provider is registered with the CQC to deliver the following regulated activities: Diagnostic and screening procedures, maternity and midwifery services, surgical procedures and treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

Askern Medical Practice is a member of NHS Doncaster Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). It delivers commissioned services under a Personal Medical Services (PMS) contract. This is a contract between general practices and NHS England for delivering services to the local community. At the time of our inspection there were approximately 7,900 patients registered with the practice.

The provider is registered as an organisation, AMP Healthcare Limited. At the time of this inspection there was no Registered Manager in place. A new manager had been recruited and was due to start their employment imminently with the intention of being the CQC Registered Manager.

The provider had a team of clinicians which included GPs, nurses, health practitioners and healthcare assistants. They also had supporting management, administrative and clerical staff.

The National General Practice Profile states that 98.1% of the practice population are of white ethnicity, and 1.9% of the practice patient population are from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds. People from different ethnic backgrounds may have an increased risk of developing certain conditions.

Information published by Public Health England rates the level of deprivation within the practice population group as level two on a scale of one to ten. Level one represents the highest levels of deprivation and level ten the lowest.

Updated 25 October 2021

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Askern Medical Practice on 11 January 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and an effective system in place for reporting and recording significant events.
• Risks to patients were assessed and managed.
• Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance. Staff had the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• Patients said they found it difficult to get through to the practice by telephone first thing in the morning to make an appointment. Urgent appointments are available the same day but often filled quickly.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the Duty of Candour.
• Although audits had been carried out, we were told there was not a continuous quality improvement programme for future audit and patient review activity.

We saw three areas of outstanding practice:

• The practice had engaged with the local traveller community and to improve access to healthcare services for them.  The lead GP won the Inclusivity Leader of the Year award 2014 from NHS Health Education England Regional Leadership Recognition Award (Yorkshire and the Humber) for this work.
• The practice offered local high school students the opportunity to come into the practice and learn more about careers in primary care. The lead GP had won the Mentor/Coach of the Year 2015 from NHS Health Education England Regional Leadership Recognition Award (Yorkshire and t he Humber) for their work mentoring and coaching students applying to become healthcare professionals.
• The practice held quarterly education sessions for patients and members of the PPG. Topics in the last year included social prescribing and befriending, common hand and eye consultant services for patients, bone and joint problems and the risks associated with addictive controlled drugs. Further events were planned for this year.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

• Make arrangements for all staff to complete level one safeguarding childrens training as recommended in the Intercollegiate Guideline (ICG) “Safeguarding Children and Young People: roles and competences for health care staff” (2014).
• Implement a procedure to monitor prescription pad use complying with NHS Protect Security of Prescription guidance.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 31 March 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of people with long term conditions.

Practice nursing staff had lead roles in long term condition management and 2% of patients at risk of hospital admission were identified as a priority. Diabetes care related indicators were 4% above the CCG and 11% above the national average. Longer appointments and home visits were available when needed.

All these patients had a named GP. Patients attended structured annual reviews to check their health and medicines needs were being met. For those people with the most complex needs, the named GP worked with relevant health and care professionals to deliver a multidisciplinary package of care.

Updated 31 March 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of families, children and young people.

There were systems in place to identify and follow up children living in disadvantaged circumstances and who were at risk, for example, children and young people who had a high number of accident and emergency attendances. Immunisation rates were relatively high for all standard childhood immunisations.   Patients told us children and young people were treated in an age-appropriate way and were recognised as individuals, and we saw evidence to confirm this.

The practice’s uptake for the cervical screening programme was 80%, which was comparable to the CCG average of 82% and the national average of 77%. Appointments were available outside of school hours and the premises were suitable for children and babies.  We saw good examples of joint working with midwives, health visitors and school nurses.

The practice offered local high school students the opportunity to come into the practice and learn more about careers in primary care.

Updated 31 March 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of older people.

The practice offered proactive, personalised care to meet the needs of the older people in its population.  It was responsive to the needs of older people, and offered home visits and urgent appointments for those with enhanced needs.

Updated 31 March 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of working-age people (including those recently retired and students).

The needs of the working age population, those recently retired and students had been identified and the practice had adjusted the services it offered to ensure these were accessible, flexible and offered continuity of care.

The practice was proactive in offering online services as well as a full range of health promotion and screening that reflects the needs for this age group.

Updated 31 March 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of people experiencing poor mental health (including people living with dementia).

Of those diagnosed as living with dementia, 98% had had their care reviewed in a face to face meeting in the last 12 months. Of those experiencing poor mental health, 92% had received an annual physical health check. The practice regularly worked with multidisciplinary teams in the case management of people experiencing poor mental health, including those with living with dementia. It carried out advance care planning for patients living with dementia.

The practice had told patients experiencing poor mental health about how to access various support groups and voluntary organisations. It had a system in place to follow up patients who had attended accident and emergency where they may have been experiencing poor mental health.

Staff had a good understanding of how to support people with mental health needs and dementia. 

Updated 31 March 2016

The practice is rated as outstanding for the care of people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable.

The practice held a register of patients living in vulnerable circumstances including those with a learning disability. It offered longer appointments for people with a learning disability. The practice regularly worked with multidisciplinary teams in the case management of those whose circumstances may make them vulnerable.

Patients were told how to access various support groups and voluntary organisations.

Staff knew how to recognise signs of abuse in adults and children. Staff were aware of their responsibilities regarding information sharing, documentation of safeguarding concerns and how to contact relevant agencies in normal working hours and out of hours.

The practice had engaged with the local traveller community and to improve access to healthcare services for them and had a member of the community on the practice patient participation group.