Atherley House Surgery

Updated 13 January 2017

Atherley House Surgery is located in a purpose built building in Shirley, Southampton. The practice has approximately 4,700 patients registered with it.

The practice provides services under a NHS General Medical Services contract and is part of NHS Southampton Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). The practice is located in one of the fourth more deprived areas of England. The practice has a higher then national average number of patients aged 20 to 45 years old. A total of 17% of patients at the practice are over 65 years of age, which is lower than the CCG average of 21% and national average of 28%. A total of 52% of patients at the practice have a long-standing health condition, which is slightly lower than the CCG average of 53% and national average of 54%. Approximately 19% of the practice population describe themselves as being from an ethnic minority group; the majority of the population are White British.

The practice has three GP partners, two of the partners are female and one is male. Together the GPs provide care equivalent to approximately 19 sessions per week. The GPs are supported by two part time practice nurses and a part time health care assistant who also provides a phlebotomy service. The clinical team are supported by a practice manager with administrative and clerical staff. The practice is a teaching practice for medical students.

Atherley House Surgery is open between 8.30am and 6.30pm Monday to Friday. Extended hours surgeries are available every Tuesday morning from 7.30am to 8.00am and every other Saturday each month from 8.30am to 11.00am. The GPs also offer home visits to patients who need them.

The practice has opted out of providing out-of-hours services to their own patients and refers them to the Portsmouth Health Limited service via the NHS 111 service. The practice offers online facilities for booking of appointments and for requesting prescriptions.

We inspected the only location:

Atherley House Surgery

143 -145 Shirley Road

Shirley

Southampton

SO15 3FH

Updated 13 January 2017

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Atherley House Surgery on 4th August 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 been trained to provide them with 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. Improvements were made to the quality of care as a result of complaints and concerns.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.
• 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.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

• The provider should continue to ensure there are systems in place for the management of patients with long terms conditions who need to be supported to make improvements to their health.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 13 January 2017

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.
• Performance for diabetes related Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) indicators was better than the national average. For example 90% of patients with diabetes at the practice had a blood test to monitor average blood sugar compared to with the national average 77.5%.
• Due to a transient patient population not all patients with long term conditions had utilised the support on offer from the practice to make improvements to their health.
• Longer appointments and home visits were available when needed.
• All these patients 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 13 January 2017

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 A&E attendances. Immunisation rates were relatively 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.

• Performance for cervical screening was better than the national average. A total of 91% of women aged 25-64 whose notes recorded that a cervical screening test in the preceding 5 years, compared to the national average of 82%.

• Appointments were available outside of school hours and the premises were suitable for children and babies.

• We saw positive examples of joint working with midwives, health visitors and school nurses.

Updated 13 January 2017

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.

• The practice was responsive to the needs of older people, and offered home visits and urgent appointments for those with enhanced needs.

Updated 13 January 2017

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 13 January 2017

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

• 95% of patients diagnosed with dementia had their care reviewed in a face to face meeting in the last 12 months, which is comparable to the national average.
• There were 56 patients on the practices mental health register, one was excepted, therefore a total of 55 patients had an agreed care plan documented in the preceding 12 months.

Updated 13 January 2017

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 and those with a learning disability.

• The practice offered longer appointments for patients with a learning disability.

• The practice regularly worked with other health care professionals in the case management of vulnerable patients.

• The practice informed vulnerable patients about how to access various support groups and voluntary 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 normal working hours and out of hours.