Archived: Moss Green Surgery Also known as Dr McGowan and Partners

Updated 11 June 2015

Moss Green Surgery is one of two practices in Stoke on Trent owned by the four GP partners. The other practice is Moorcroft Medical Practice. Moss Green Surgery forms part of the Bentilee Neighbourhood Centre in Stoke on Trent. The practice is located centrally within the Bentilee housing estate and is a purpose built premises rented under a sub-contract with Stoke on Trent NHS. The practice boundary is clearly defined for patients. There is a high level of deprivation and unemployment within this area of Stoke on Trent. The practice is located within the same premises as other local authority and health services.

There are four GP Partners, five salaried GPs and one sessional GP at the practice (six male and four female). The clinical team also include five advanced nurse practitioners, three practice nurses, (4.54 WTE) and one healthcare assistant (0.54 WTE). A managing partner, three practice manager’s, reception, administrative and secretarial staff provide admin support for both practices.

The practice currently provides a service for 6,900 patients registered with the practice. Services provided at Moss green Surgery include the following clinics; contraception and sexual health, asthma, diabetes and wellbeing screening clinics.The practice population is mainly young children/young adults and older people aged 80 years plus. The practice also has a high percentage of single parent families.

The practice is approved for GP training of Registrars (qualified doctors who undertake additional specialist training to gain experience and higher qualification in General Practice and family medicine). The practice is also an accredited teaching and training practice for medical students and offers administrative apprenticeships to local college students’.

The practice has an General Medical Services (GMS) Plus contract with NHS England for delivering primary care services to their local community.

The practice does not provide an out of hour’s service to their own patients. They have alternative arrangements with Staffordshire Doctors Urgent Care Ltd. (SDUC) for their patients to be seen when the practice is closed.

Updated 11 June 2015

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Moss Green Surgery on 15 December 2014. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing well-led, effective, caring, responsive and safe services. The practice was found to be good for the services it provided to older people, people with long term conditions, families, children and young people, the working age population and those recently retired, people in vulnerable circumstances and people experiencing poor mental health.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and to report incidents and near misses. Information about safety was recorded, monitored, appropriately reviewed and addressed.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff had received training appropriate to their roles and any further training needs had been identified and planned.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

There were areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

Importantly the provider should

• Maintain consistent records of meetings to clearly demonstrate the discussions and actions taken to address safety incidents (significant events, complaints, NICE guidelines etc.) over the long term.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 11 June 2015

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. Longer appointments and home visits were available when needed. All these patients had a named GP and a structured annual review to check that their health and medication needs were being met. For those people with the most complex needs, the named GP worked with relevant health and care professionals to deliver a multidisciplinary package of care.

Updated 11 June 2015

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. Appointments were available outside of school hours and the premises were suitable for children and babies. We saw good examples of joint working with midwives, health visitors and school nurses.

Updated 11 June 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of older people. Nationally reported data showed that outcomes for patients were good for conditions commonly found in older people. The practice offered proactive, personalised care to meet the needs of the older people in its population and had a range of enhanced services, for example, in dementia and end of life care. It was responsive to the needs of older people, and offered home visits and rapid access appointments for those with enhanced needs.

Updated 11 June 2015

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 11 June 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia). All patients experiencing poor mental health had received an annual physical health check. The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of people experiencing poor mental health, including those with dementia. It carried out advance care planning for patients with dementia.

Updated 11 June 2015

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 homeless people, travellers and those with a learning disability. It had carried out annual health checks for people with a learning disability and all of these patients had received a follow-up. It offered longer appointments for people with a learning disability. To support the diverse needs of vulnerable patients the practice worked closely with various groups of locality based services and professionals. These included health visitors, social services, the learning disability team and the police. The practice had close links with these groups and was able to make appropriate referrals and signpost patients to appropriate professionals and support services that could help them. The advance nurse practitioners had received training and had the necessary skills to support the needs of patients that misused substances and patients who were homeless.