Archived: Shephall Way Surgery

Updated 27 October 2016

Shephall Way Surgery provides primary medical services, including minor surgery, to approximately 7,800 patients in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. The current premises were purpose built in 1956 and the practice plans to move into a brand new purpose built premises in November 2016.

The practice serves a higher than average population of those aged between 50 to 59 years and 75 to 84 years. The practice serves a lower than average population of those aged from 40 to 44 years. The population is 90% White British (2011 Census data). The area served is less deprived compared to England as a whole.

The practice team consists of five GP Partners; three of which are male and two are female. There are three practice nurses and one Health Care Assistant. The non-clinical team consists of a practice manager, practice coordinator, two administrators and five receptionists.

Shephall Way Surgery is an approved training practice and has been approved to train doctors who are undertaking further training (from four months up to one year depending on where they are in their educational process) to become general practitioners.

The practice is open to patients at both premises between 8.30am and 6:30pm Mondays to Fridays. The telephone line is available from 8am. Appointments with a GP or nurse are available from 8.30am to 11am and from 3.20pm to 6pm daily. Emergency appointments are available daily with the duty doctor. The practice offers extended opening hours between 6.30pm and 8.30pm seven evenings a month and from 8.30am to 10.30am one Saturday each month.

Home visits are available to those patients who are unable to attend the surgery and the Out of Hours service is provided by Hertfordshire Urgent Care and can be accessed via the NHS 111 service. Information about this is available in the practice and on the practice website.

Updated 27 October 2016

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Shephall Way Surgery on 21 September 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 well 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.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and that there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand. Improvements were made to the quality of care as a result of complaints and concerns.
• 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.

The practice should make an improvement in the following area:

• Continue to grow and improve numbers and diversity of patients involved in the practice participation group (PPG).

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 27 October 2016

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

• Nurses had lead roles in chronic disease management and patients at risk of hospital admission were identified as a priority.
• The percentage of patients with diabetes, on the register, in whom the last blood pressure reading (measured in the preceding 12 months) was 140/80 mmHg or less was in line with the CCG and national average. The practice had achieved 74% of the total number of points available, compared to 77% locally and 78% nationally.
• 73% of patients diagnosed with asthma, on the register, had received an asthma review in the last 12 months which was comparable with the local and national average of 75%.
• Longer appointments and home visits were available when needed.
• All patients with a long-term condition had a named GP and a structured annual review to check their health and medicines needs were being met. For those patients with the most complex needs, the named GP worked with relevant health and care professionals to deliver a multidisciplinary package of care.

Updated 27 October 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 identified as being at possible risk, for example, children and young people who had a high number of A&E attendances. Immunisation rates were high for all standard childhood immunisations.
• Patients told us that 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 81% which was comparable with the local average of 83% and national average of 82%.
• Appointments were available on the same day and outside of school hours.
• We saw positive examples of joint working with midwives and health visitors.

Updated 27 October 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. This included enhanced services for avoiding unplanned admissions to hospital and end of life care.
• The practice was responsive to the needs of older people, and offered home visits and urgent appointments when required.
• 75% of patients aged 65 years or over had received a seasonal flu vaccination between 2015 and 2016.
• The practice worked closely with a multidisciplinary team to support older people and patients considered to be in the last 12 months of their lives.
• The practice provided health checks for patients aged over 75 years and had completed 374 health checks in the last 12 months, which was 56% of this population group.

Updated 27 October 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 carried out routine NHS health checks for patients aged 40-74 years.
• The practice was proactive in offering on line services such as appointment bookings, an appointment reminder text messaging service and repeat prescriptions, as well as a full range of health promotion and screening that reflects the needs of this age group.
• Extended opening times were available on a weekly basis.

Updated 27 October 2016

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

• The practice held a register of patients experiencing poor mental health and offered regular reviews and same day contact.
• The percentage of patients with schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder and other psychoses who had a comprehensive, agreed care plan documented in the record, in the preceding 12 months was in line with the CCG and national average. The practice had achieved 95% of the total number of points available, compared to 92% locally and 88% nationally.
• 81% of patients diagnosed with dementia had their care reviewed in a face to face meeting in 2014/2015, which was comparable with the local average of 86% and national average of 84%.
• The practice provided a weekly telephone consultation service along with urgent and routine monthly visits to a supported housing scheme for people experiencing poor mental health. Staff there told us that there was good communication with the practice and described the services provided as effective and efficient.
• The practice had told patients experiencing poor mental health about how to access various support groups and voluntary organisations.
• The practice had a system in place to follow up patients who had attended A&E where they may have been experiencing poor mental health.
• Staff had a good understanding of how to support patients with mental health needs and dementia.

Updated 27 October 2016

The practice is rated as good 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. The practice had 42 patients on their learning disability register and had completed a health check for all of these patients between 2015 and 2016.
• The practice had carried out extensive work towards identifying and supporting people with a learning disability. The practice offered longer appointments, made easy read information available to patients and had improved their care plans for patients with a learning disability.
• Regular visits to two supported living homes for adults with a learning disability were carried out by a named GP for continuity of care and emergency visits were also provided when needed. We spoke with senior staff at the homes who told us that the practice offered good care and treatment. Staff described the services provided as very good.
• The practice regularly worked with other health care professionals in the case management of vulnerable patients.
• Vulnerable patients had been told how to access support groups and voluntary organisations.
• Staff had accessed safeguarding training and knew how to recognise signs of abuse in vulnerable adults and children. Staff members 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’s computer system alerted GPs if a patient was also a carer. The practice held a register of carers with 473 carers identified, which was approximately 3.5% of the practice list.