Dr Justin Morris and Partners Also known as Beacon Surgery

Updated 10 June 2016

Dr Maurice O’Connell & Partners (The Beacon Surgery) is a practice offering personal medical services to the population of Crowborough, East Sussex. There are approximately 10,400 registered patients.

The practice population has a higher number of patients between 45-49, 60-69 and 85+ years of age than the national and local CCG average. The practice population also shows a lower number of patients between the age of 10-39 and 70- 84 year olds than the national and local CCG average. There are a slightly lower number of patients with a longstanding health condition. The percentage of registered patients suffering deprivation (affecting both adults and children) is lower than the average for England.

Dr Maurice O’Connell & Partners is run by four partner GPs (three male and one female). The practice is also supported by three female salaried GPs; three practice nurses, two healthcare assistants, a, phlebotomist, a team of administrative and reception staff, an administrative office manager and a practice manager.

The practice runs a number of services for its patients including asthma clinics, diabetes clinics, coronary heart disease clinics, minor surgery, child immunisation clinics, new patient checks and holiday vaccinations and advice.

Services are provided from one location:

The Beacon Surgery, Beacon Road, Crowborough, East Sussex, TN6 1AH

Opening hours are Monday to Friday 8am to 6.30pm. The practice has extended hours which vary each week. There is one morning extended session from 7am and one evening session from 6.30pm, the day for this changes and is not constantly on the same day. There are also extended appointments available every Saturday morning from 8am.

During the times when the practice is closed arrangements are in place for patients to access care from IC24 which is an Out of Hours provider.

Updated 10 June 2016

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dr Maurice O’Connell & Partners (The Beacon Surgery) on 1 March 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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.
• Feedback from patients about their care was consistently and strongly positive.
• The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
• Urgent appointments were available on the day they were requested.
• 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 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.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the Duty of Candour.

We saw one area of outstanding practice:

• Elderly patients who were resident in care homes were visited each week by a GP allocated by the practice to that care home to ensure continuity of care. This was introduced in 2014 and has led to a 25% reduction in unplanned hospital admissions for these patients.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• To review policies in regard of staff whose role means they have unsupervised contact with patients and either risk assess the role or carry out relevant checks to ensure patient safety.

• To review what actions the practice could undertake to ensure that the maximum numbers of carers are identified within their patient list.

• To review their policies regarding completing legionella risk assessments so as to ensure patient and staff safety .

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 10 June 2016

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.
• Data from 2014/15 showed the percentage of patients on the diabetes register, with a record of a foot examination and risk classification within the preceding 12 months was 92% compared to the national average of 88%.
• Longer appointments and home visits were available when needed.
• All these patients had a named GP and a structured annual review to check their health and medicines needs were being met. For those patients with the most complex needs, the named GP worked with relevant health and care professionals to deliver a multidisciplinary package of care.
• For patients with more complex diabetic needs there was a clinic serviced by the diabetic specialist nurse within the practice.
• The practice has on site spirometry testing available for those patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Updated 10 June 2016

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.
• Data from 2014/15 showed the percentage of patients with asthma, on the register, who had an asthma review in the preceding 12 months was 82% compared to the national average of 75%.
• The practice ensured that children needing emergency appointments would be seen on the day or were offered a same day telephone appointment to discuss any concerns.
• 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.
• The percentage of women aged 25-64 whose notes record that a cervical screening test has been performed in the preceding 5 years was 94% compared to a national average of 82%.
• Appointments were available outside of school hours and the premises were suitable for children and babies.
• We saw positive examples of joint working with midwives and health visitors.
• The practice offered a comprehensive range of family planning services with two GPs proficient in coil insertion and a further two GPs able to place contraceptive implants.
• Childhood immunisations were given when it was convenient to the patients and not at a prescribed clinic time.
• The practice offered online appointment booking and prescription requests for patients along with a text reminder service for appointments.

Updated 10 June 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.
• The practice was responsive to the needs of older people, and offered home visits and urgent appointments for those with enhanced needs.
• Elderly patients who were resident in care homes were visited each week by a GP allocated by the practice to that care home to ensure continuity of care. This was introduced in 2014 and has led to a 25% reduction in unplanned hospital admissions for these patients.
• All patients over 75 years of age are ensured a same day appointment.
• The practice had a safeguarding lead for vulnerable adults.

Updated 10 June 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.
• Patients could pre-book early morning appointments from 7am one day a week as well as one evening session until 7.30pm once a week. Saturday morning appointments were also available from 8am.
• The practice offered NHS health-checks and advice for diet and weight reduction.
• The practice offered a range of other services such as minor surgery, ear micro-suction and a rectal diagnostic clinic which was less time consuming for patients than attending an outpatient clinic would have been.

Updated 10 June 2016

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

• Data from 2014/15 showed the percentage of patients with schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder and other psychoses who had a comprehensive, agreed care plan documented in the record, in the preceding 12 months was 53% compared to the national average of 88%. The practice had recognised this and devised a plan to address the matter and evidence was seen that at the time of inspection the practice had achieved 83% in areas affecting mental health.
• The percentage of patients diagnosed with dementia whose care had been reviewed in a face-to-face review in the preceding 12 months was 73% compared to the national average of 84%.
• The practice had recognised that they had low mental health data and had put into place a system to alleviate the number of patients who did not attend for their appointments. This system included telephone reminder calls and appointments nearer to the date of making their appointment.
• The practice worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of people experiencing poor mental health.
• All patients on the Mental Health register were proactively invited in to see their usual doctor annually. This appointment was always made during the morning surgery times so that the GP could do blood tests if needed.
• The practice provided in house counsellors for all patients as needed and there were also some counsellors in training who saw patients. The practice had developed special rooms for this purpose and these were furnished comfortably and away from the clinical areas of the practice.
• 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.
• It had a system in place to follow up patients who had attended accident and emergency where they may have been experiencing poor mental health.

Updated 10 June 2016

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.
• The practice offered longer appointments for patients with a learning disability.
• The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of vulnerable people.
• Translation services were available for patients who did not use English as a first language.
• The practice could accommodate those patients with limited mobility or who used wheelchairs.
• Carers and those patients, who had carers, were flagged on the practice computer system and were signposted to the local carers support team.
• The practice had recently introduced a system whereby the health care assistant visited vulnerable patients in their own homes to advise them about health care.
• The practice informed vulnerable patients about how to access various support groups and voluntary organisations.
• The practice had a close working relationship with the pharmacy next door and requested medicines to be blister packed for patients requiring this.
• 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.