Apsley Surgery

Updated 10 January 2023

Apsley Surgery is located in Stoke-on-Trent and provides services from Cobridge Community Health Centre, Church Terrace, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, ST6 2JN. The practice formerly had a branch location at 62, Knypersley Road, Norton, Stoke on Trent, ST6 8HZ which has closed.

The provider is registered with the CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities relating to diagnostic and screening procedures, treatment of disease, disorder or injury, maternity and midwifery services and surgical procedures.

The practice is situated within the NHS Stoke on Trent Integrated Care System and delivers General Medical Services (GMS) to a patient population of 7,973.

Information published by Office for Health Improvement and Disparities shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the lowest decile (one of 10). The lower the decile, the more deprived the practice population is relative to others.

The National General Practice Profile describes the practice ethnicity as being 76.2% white British, 16% Asian, 2.9% black, 3.1% mixed and 1.8% other non-white ethnicities. Average life expectancy is 75 years for men and 80 years for women compared to the national average of 79 and 83 years respectively.

The practice employs two GP partners and long-term sessional GPs providing a total of 2.5 whole time equivalent sessions. The clinical team includes; a pharmacist and a pharmacy technician, three practice nurses, a nurse practitioner and two health care support assistants. The clinical team is supported by an acting/new practice manager, a managing partner, administration and receptionist staff covering a range of hours as well as a social prescriber.

The practice is open between 8am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday. The practice offers a range of appointment types including book on the day, telephone consultations and advance appointments.

The practice is part of a wider network of GP practices called Primary Care Networks (PCN).

Since October 2022 Enhanced access is provided as part of ABC PCN where late evenings and weekend appointments are available. Out of hours services are provided by Staffordshire Doctors Urgent Care, accessed via NHS 111.

Further information regarding the practice can be found on the practice website: www.apsleysurgery.co.uk

Updated 10 January 2023

We carried out an announced comprehensive at Apsley Surgery on 8 December 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.

Safe - good

Effective -good

Caring - good

Responsive – good

Well-led -good

Our previous inspection on 12 August 2021, rated the practice as good overall and for all key questions. The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Apsley Surgery on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection

We carried out this inspection in line with our inspection priorities.

Key questions inspected

• We followed up areas including the ‘shoulds’ identified in previous inspection

How we carried out the inspection

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site.

This included:

• Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing.
• Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system (this was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements).
• Reviewing patient records to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider.
• Requesting evidence from the provider.
• A short site visit.
• Staff feedback questionnaires

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 and
• information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.

We found that:

• 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.
• 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-centre care.

Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:

• Maintain documentation to evidence when a locum staff member has a portable Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) in place that this has been verified or checked prior to attendance.
• Review staff vaccinations to be assured these are all maintained in line with current UK Health and Security Agency (UKHSA) guidance if relevant to role, and risk assess if unable to attend for a timely occupational health appointment.
• Risk assess and follow up with the Community Health Partnerships building managers any adverse findings to the premises health and safety checks to ensure these are satisfactory.
• Further improve documentation of mitigations of risk of reoccurrence for significant events and complaints as those verbalised by staff were more extensive than those documented
• Implement further measures to continue to make improvements in the uptake of cervical screening and childhood immunisations.
• Consider the implementation of a formal risk register and agree and document the practice strategic ambitions.

Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Hospitals and Interim Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services