Faversham Medical Practice

Updated 11 February 2016

Faversham Medical Practice is a GP practice located in the centre of Faversham Kent and provides care for approximately 14000 patients. The practice was formed by the merger of two practices “Cross Lane Medical Practice” and “Dr Logan and Partners”. The partnerships merged on 1 July 2014 but the practice lists were formally merged on 1 October 2014. The age demographics of the practice are close to the national averages though there is marginally less deprivation than nationally.

There are eight GP partners, three female and five male, as well as one salaried GP. There are five female nurses (three nurse practitioners and two practice nurses) and three female healthcare assistants. The practice has a general medical services contract with NHS England for delivering primary care services to local communities. It offers enhanced services for example, offering services for patients with a learning disability and minor surgery. The practice is an approved GP training and teaching practice training undergraduates and foundation doctors. During each year there are normally three GP registrars training in practice. A registrar is a qualified doctor who is training to become a GP through a period of working and training in a practice. The practice also provides training for medical students.

The practice is open between 8am and 6.30pm Monday to Friday. Appointments are from 8.40am to 11.40am every morning and 3.30pm and 5.30pm each afternoon. There are no extended hours surgeries as such but the practice does run the minor injuries unit, in the same building, which is open from 8am to 8pm seven days a week. Services are delivered from;

The Faversham Health Centre

Bank Street

Faversham

Kent,

ME13 8QR

The practice has opted out of providing out-of-hours services to their own patients. Care is provided by Integrated Care 24. There is information available to patients on how to access out of hours care.

Updated 11 February 2016

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Faversham Medical Practice on 26 October 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good. Please note that when referring to information throughout this report, for example any reference to the Quality and Outcomes Framework data, this relates to the most recent information available to the CQC at that time.

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 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.
• Patients often found it difficult to get through to the practice by telephone. However once through to the practice patients said they found it easy to make an appointment 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.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the Duty of Candour.

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We saw areas of outstanding practice namely:

• The practice had GP retained beds at the local cottage hospital and these were serviced by practice staff and used to provide personalised care to patients who would otherwise be managed in the general district hospital.
• The practice had effective links with a local charity that supported elderly people and responded to requests from them for appointments for patients they supported.
• The practice was involved in the provision of drug rehabilitation services through a shared clinic with a charitable organisation.
• The practice had worked with commissioners to secure the contract to run the local minor injuries unit. This unit had been in danger of closing and being lost to the community. The practice was continuing to develop and increase services at the unit for example there were plans to provide x-ray services which had not been previously available at the unit.
• During the winter of 2014 the practice had run weekend surgeries to provide additional access to primary care for patients to assist them in avoiding admission to the local hospitals. A similar service was due to open in November which was intended to achieve the same outcome.

However, there was an area where the practice needs to make improvements namely.

• Review the process for dealing with medical alerts to help ensure that the alerts were actioned, as required, by the individuals to whom they were sent.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 11 February 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of people with long-term conditions.

GPs and nurses had lead roles in chronic disease management and patients at risk of hospital admission were identified as a priority. Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF is a system intended to improve the quality of general practice and reward good practice) results for the practice are very high. Longer appointments and home visits were available when needed. Patients on the long term conditions registers received an annual review to check that their health and medicines 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 February 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of families, children and young people.

There were systems 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 comparable to the national performance for all standard childhood immunisations. Cervical screening results were in line with the national standards. 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. The practice offered coordinated services for families, for example postnatal reviews were offered at the same time as child immunisation to negate multiple visits to the practice.

Updated 11 February 2016

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. It was responsive to the needs of older people, and offered home visits and urgent appointments for them when necessary. The practice had effective links with a local charity that supported elderly people and responded to requests from the charity for appointments for patients. The practice used recognised tools such as the PRISMA questionnaire to assess the presence of frailty in the elderly.

Updated 11 February 2016

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 offered online services as well as a full range of health promotion and screening that reflected the needs of this age group.

Updated 11 February 2016

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

Eighty four per cent of people diagnosed with dementia had had their care reviewed in a face to face meeting in the last 12 months. 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. The practice had told patients experiencing poor mental health about how to access various support groups and voluntary organisations. Staff had a good understanding of how to support people with mental health needs and dementia.

Updated 11 February 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable.

The practice had a register of patients living in vulnerable circumstances. It offered longer appointments for people with a learning disability and those using translation services. The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of vulnerable people. It had told 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. The practice was involved in the provision of drug rehabilitation services through a shared clinic with a charitable organisation.