Background to this inspection
Updated
14 August 2018
This report relates to the regulatory activities being carried out at Brunel Medical Practice which is situated in Torquay. Brunel Medical Practice is comprised of three sites. The address of the main site is Brunel Medical Practice, St Albans Road, Torquay TQ1 3SL. There is a branch site at St Marychurch, Fore Street, Torquay TQ1 4QX and another branch at Shiphay Surgery, Collaton Road, Shiphay TQ2 7HH. We visited all three of these sites during our inspection. The practice has a website: www.brunelmedicalpractice.co.uk
The deprivation decile rating for this area is nine (with one being the most deprived and 10 being the least deprived). The practice provides a primary medical service to approximately 16,288 patients of a diverse age group. The 2011 census data showed that majority of the local population identified themselves as being White British.
There is a team of eight GP partners, three female and five male; the partners are supported by four salaried GPs and two GP registrar. The whole-time equivalent is eight. The GP team are supported by a practice manager, a patient liaison lead, a reception lead, 14 practice nurses, two advanced nurse practitioners, a paramedic, a pharmacist, three health care assistants, one phlebotomist, and additional administration staff.
Patients using the practice also have access to health visitors, counsellors, carer support workers, district nurses, and midwives. Other health care professionals visit the practice on a regular basis.
The opening hours of the three sites are as follows. Main site at Babbacombe 8.30am until 6pm. Branch at St Marychurch 8.30am to 6pm (closed for lunch 1pm-2pm) and branch site at Shiphay 8.30am to 6pm (closed for lunch 1pm-2pm). Extended hours are worked at the two branch sites from Tuesday to Friday 7.30am to 8am. Outside of these times patients are directed to contact the out of hour’s service. This is in line with local contract arrangements.
The practice offers a range of appointment types including face to face same day appointments, telephone consultations and advance appointments (six weeks in advance) as well as online services such as repeat prescriptions.
Updated
14 August 2018
This practice is rated as Good overall. (Previous rating October 2015 – Good)
The key questions at this inspection are rated as:
Are services safe? – Requires Improvement
Are services effective? – Good
Are services caring? – Good
Are services responsive? – Good
Are services well-led? - Good
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Brunel Medical Practice on 11 July 2018 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 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 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.
- There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation. The practice embraced technological change to meet challenges. For example, on the new digital inclusion project which educated patients in using online services such as appointment booking, repeat prescriptions and patient summary records.
- Feedback to the practice management had been acted upon; such as carrying out a survey on the number of annual health checks on patients with learning disabilities (LD). The practice had acted on these findings and introduced signage which was dementia friendly, learning disability friendly and child friendly throughout the practice.
- A carer support worker was employed by the practice. This member of staff took referrals from clinical staff and contacted carers and carried out home visits to offer support. This included facilitating befriending services, bereavement support and referrals to other health professionals.
- The practice had a patient liaison lead who dealt with complaints, significant events, the patient participation group (PPG) and external links with voluntary organisations. The purpose of this new role was to develop and strengthen face to face relationships with patients and the community.
- The practice responded positively to the findings of our inspection and put in place new protocols to address any areas of concern during the inspection.
We found an area of outstanding practice;
- The practice had introduced an urgent on the day care team named the “Hot Team”. This comprised of a GP, two advanced nurse practitioners, a paramedic and a pharmacist with administration support. The Hot Team provided urgent care both at the practice and on home visits. This had a positive benefit to on average 90 patients a day who would otherwise have to attend alternative urgent care provider including the local hospital accident and emergency department or even not obtaining treatment at all until potentially too late. It also had a benefit to other patients as it freed up GP and nurse time to see routine appointments in a timely way.
The areas where the provider must make improvements are:
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Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients.
Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP
Chief Inspector of General Practice
Please refer to the detailed report and the evidence tables for further information.