The Village Surgery

Updated 8 January 2018

The Village Surgery is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) as a partnership provider and is located in Wolstanton, North Staffordshire. It provides care and treatment to approximately 7,044 patients of all ages. The practice holds a General Medical Services (GMS) contract. A GMS contract is a contract between NHS England and general practices for delivering general medical services and is the commonest form of GP contract. The practice delivers services from one location which we visited during our inspection:

• The Village Surgery, 49 High Street, Wolstanton, Newcastle Under Lyme, ST5 0ET

The practice area is one of low deprivation when compared with the national and local Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) area. Demographically the practice has a patient age distribution comparable with the CCG and national averages. The percentage of patients with a long-standing health condition is 52% which is comparable with the local CCG average of 57% and national average of 53%.

The practice staffing comprises of:

• Two GP partners (one male and one female). The practice are in the process of adding an additional male GP partner.
• A GP Registrar
• Three practice nurses and a health care assistant.
• A practice manager and assistant practice manager.
• Nine members of administrative staff working a range of hours.

The Village Surgery is open between 8am and 6pm Monday to Friday except for Thursdays when it closes at 1pm. Appointments are from 8am to 11am every morning and 3pm to 5.30pm daily except for Thursday afternoon when the practice is closed. Telephone consultations are also available to suit the needs of the patient. Cover to patients in the out-of-hours period is provided by Staffordshire Doctors Urgent Care, patients access this service by calling NHS 111.

The practice offers a range of services for example, management of long term conditions such as diabetes, contraceptive advice, immunisations for children, travel vaccinations, minor operations and NHS checks. Further details can be found by accessing the practice’s website at www.thevillagesurgery.co.uk

Updated 8 January 2018

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

This practice is rated as Good overall. We previously inspected this practice on 26 January 2015 and rated it Good overall.

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? - Good

As part of our inspection process, we also look at the quality of care for specific population groups. The population groups are rated as:

Older People – Good

People with long-term conditions – Good

Families, children and young people – Good

Working age people (including those recently retired and students – Good

People whose circumstances may make them vulnerable – Good

People experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia) - Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The Village Surgery on 4 December 2017 as part of our inspection programme.

At this inspection we found:

• The practice had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the practice learned from them and improved their processes.

• The practice had systems to safeguard children and vulnerable adults from the risk of abuse and staff were aware of these.

• The practice routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence based guidelines.

• Staff worked with other health and social care professionals to deliver effective care and treatment.

• Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.

• Patients found the appointment system easy to use and reported that they were able to access care when they needed it. Data from the national patient survey showed that 95% of patients described their experience of making an appointment as good.

• The management team were aware of the challenges the practice faced and had plans in place to address them. For example, they had implemented plans to reduce their antibiotic prescribing rate and also to increase the quality of care for patients with diabetes.

• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.

• Staff we spoke with were aware of the practice’s vision to provide patients with high quality, safe, accessible care in a responsive and courteous manner. They were aware of their roles in achieving this. There were very positive relationships between staff and teams.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 8 May 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people with long-term conditions. Nursing staff had lead roles in chronic disease management and patients at risk of hospital admission were identified as a priority. Longer appointments and home visits were available when needed. All these patients had a named GP and a structured annual review to check that their health and medication needs were 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 8 May 2015

The practice is rated as good for the population group of families, children and young people. Systems were in place for identifying and following-up children living in disadvantaged circumstances and who were at risk. For example, children and young people who had a high number of A&E attendances. Immunisation rates were relatively high for all standard childhood immunisations. Patients told us and we saw evidence that showed children and young people were treated in an age appropriate way and recognised as individuals. Appointments were available outside of school hours and the premises were suitable for children and babies. We were provided with examples of joint working with midwives, health visitors and school nurses. Emergency processes were in place and referrals made for children and pregnant women who had a sudden deterioration in health.

Updated 8 May 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of older people. Nationally reported data showed the practice had good outcomes for conditions commonly found amongst older people. The practice offered proactive, personalised care to meet the needs of the older people in its population and had a range of enhanced services, for example in dementia and end of life care. The practice was responsive to the needs of older people, including offering home visits and rapid access appointments for those with enhanced needs. Annual health assessments were offered to all patients aged over 75, including those with no pre-existing medical conditions.

Updated 8 May 2015

The practice is rated as good for the population group 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 which reflects the needs for this age group.

Updated 8 May 2015

The practice is rated as good for the population group of people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia). All patients experiencing poor mental health had received an annual physical health check. The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of patients experiencing poor mental health including those with dementia. The practice had in place advance care planning for patients with dementia.

The practice sign-posted patients experiencing poor mental health to various support groups and third sector organisations. The practice had a system in place to follow up on patients who had attended accident and emergency where there may have been mental health needs. Staff had signed up to receive additional training on how to promote care for people with dementia.

Updated 8 May 2015

The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of vulnerable people. The practice had sign-posted vulnerable patients to various support groups and third sector organisations. Staff knew how to recognise signs of abuse in vulnerable adults and children. Staff were aware of their responsibilities regarding information sharing, documentation of safeguarding concerns and how to contact relevant agencies in and out of hours.