Background to this inspection
Updated
23 June 2021
Sleaford Medical Group has one surgery and is located at:
47 Boston Road
Sleaford
NG34 7HD
The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening procedures, maternity and midwifery services, family planning, treatment of disease, disorder or injury and surgical procedures.
The practice is situated within the NHS Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and delivers General Medical Services (GMS) to a patient population of 17,190.
It is a dispensing practice and is able to dispense to 2,776 eligible patients who live more than 1.6km from a pharmacy. This accounts for 16.1% of the patient list.
The practice is part of a wider network of GP practices called a primary care network.
There is a team of six GPs of which three are salaried. It is a training practice and has three GP Registrars and three trainee doctors. The practice nursing team consists of one nurse practitioner, four practice nurses and one registered nursing associate. There are five health care support workers. The clinical staff are supported at the practice by a team of dispensers, reception and administration staff.
Due to the enhanced infection prevention and control measures put in place since as a result of the pandemic and in line with the national guidance, most GP appointments were telephone consultations, although the practice did use telephone triage prior to the pandemic.
The surgery’s core opening hours are Monday to Friday 8am to 6.30pm.
On site pre-booked extended hours appointments are available on various evenings from 6.30 to 8pm.
Extended access appointments are provided 6.30 to 8pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 12 noon at weekends and Bank Holidays provided by the GP Federation.
In addition, the practice operates a nurse-led minor illness and urgent care unit.
Out of hours services are provided by Lincolnshire Community Health Services Trust who are contactable through NHS111.
Updated
23 June 2021
We carried out an announced inspection at Sleaford Medical Group on 19 May 2021.
We have rated this practice as Good overall and Good for all population groups.
The practice is rated as follows;
Safe - Good
Effective – Good
Responsive - Good
Well-led – Good
We rated all the population groups as Good.
Following our previous inspection on 8 August 2019, the practice was rated Requires Improvement overall and for the safe, effective, responsive and well-led key questions. It was rated as Good for providing caring services. All the population groups were rated as Requires Improvement.
The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Sleaford Medical Group on our website at www.cqc.org.uk
Why we carried out this inspection
The inspection focused on:
- The key questions of safe, effective, responsive and well-led.
- Breaches of regulations and ‘shoulds’ identified at our previous inspection.
- Ratings carried forward from previous inspection.
How we carried out the inspection
Throughout the pandemic CQC has continued to regulate and respond to risk. However, taking into account the circumstances arising as a result of the pandemic, and in order to reduce risk, we have conducted our inspections differently.
This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site. This was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements.
This included:
- Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing.
- Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system and discussing findings with the provider.
- Reviewing patient records to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider.
- Requesting evidence from the provider.
- A short site visit.
Our findings
We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service on a combination of:
- what we found when we inspected.
- information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services.
- information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.
We found that:
- The practice had addressed all the areas of concern identified at the inspection on 8 August 2019.
- The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
- Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
- Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
- The practice adjusted how it delivered services to meet the needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
- The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centred care.
Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence table.
Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care