Background to this inspection
Updated
20 April 2020
Abbeyview Surgery provides primary medical services to approximately 7,644 patients. They cover patients residing in Crowland and the surrounding area including the villages of Cowbit, Eye (part), Deeping St Nicholas, Gedney Hill, Moulton Chapel, Newborough, Shepeau Stow,
Thorney, Weston Hills (part) and Whaplode Drove. Patients currently registered at the Surgery who relocate to Spalding can continue to be a patient at the practice if they so
choose.
The practice has a General Medical Services Contract (GMS). The GMS contract is the contract between general practices and NHS England for delivering primary care services to local communities. Abbeyview Surgery is a single storey building within Crowland Health Centre. It has car parking facilities with spaces for patients with a disability. The practice has automatic doors at the entrance They have three treatment rooms and five consulting rooms with an additional phlebotomy room. Toilet facilities are available which include disabled access.
The practice provide dispensary services to those patients on the practice list who live more than one mile (1.6km) from their nearest pharmacy. The practice also provide a delivery service to Whaplode Drove and Gedney Hill Post Offices where patients could collect their medicines.
At the time of our inspection the practice employed two GP partners (one male and one female) and two fulltime female salaried GPs. The surgery also employed a business manager, one advanced nurse practitioner, three practice nurses, two health care assistants along with reception, dispensary and administration staff.
The practice is located within the area covered by South Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). The CCG is responsible for commissioning services from the practice. A CCG is an organisation that brings together local GP’s and experienced health professionals to take on commissioning responsibilities for local health services.
South Lincolnshire has a much higher proportion of older people than the England average, and a lower proportion of young people. The prevalence of diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke and cancer is higher in South Lincolnshire than for England as a whole.
We inspected the following location where regulated activities are provided:-
Abbeyview surgery, Thorney Road, Crowland PE6 0AL
The practice was open between 7.30am to 6.30pm Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday and Friday 8am to 6.30pm and Thursday 8am to 8pm. Appointments were available from Monday 7.30am to 6.30pm, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 8am to 6.30pm, Thursday 8am to 8pm. Phone in’ sessions are available for patients to book between 8am to 10am each day .
Patients can phone in and arrange to get a phone back consultation. They have the choice of when to receive the call back and by which GP. Urgent slots are kept so that patients can attend following this phone consultation. The practice offer a walk in minor illness clinic every Monday afternoon 3.30pm until 4.15pm.
Extended hours surgeries were offered from 7.30am on a Monday and Tuesday and until 8pm on a Thursday.
The practice had a website which we found had an easy layout for patients to use. It enabled patients to find out a wealth of information about the healthcare services provided by the practice. Information on the website could be translated in many different languages. This enabled patients where English was not their first language to read the information provided by the practice.
The practice has opted out of the requirement to provide GP consultations when the surgery is closed. The out-of-hours service is provided by Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust which can be accessed through NHS111.
Updated
20 April 2020
Abbeyview Surgery had been inspected previously on the following dates: -
8 October 2015 under the comprehensive inspection programme. The practice was rated as Good overall. It was good for providing safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led services.
It was outstanding for providing services to people with long term conditions and people who suffer with mental health including dementia. The practice was good for all the remaining population groups.
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Abbeyview Surgery on 5 March 2020 following our annual review of the information available to us including information provided by the practice. Our review indicated that there had been a significant change to the quality of care provided since the last inspection.
The inspection focussed on the key questions of Safe, Effective and Well-led along with the population groups. Whilst on inspection we found significant improvements so we also looked at the Caring and Responsive key questions.
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 have rated the practice as Outstanding overall.
The practice demonstrated a strong patient centred culture.
Results from the GP patient survey showed that patient’s satisfaction with patient experience and access to appointments were consistently higher than CCG and national averages.
We found that the practice had made patient needs and preferences central to its systems in place to ensure flexibility, choice and continuity of care.
The practice was committed to working collaboratively and had found innovative and efficient ways to deliver more joined-up care to people who used the services. There was a holistic approach to assessing, planning and delivering care and treatment and the practice identified innovative and efficient ways to deliver more joined-up care to patients.
We rated the practice as Good for providing a Safe service because we found:-
The practice had systems, practices and processes in place to keep people safe and safeguarded from abuse.
There were adequate systems to assess, monitor and manage risks to patient safety.
The practice had systems for the appropriate and safe use of medicines, including medicines optimisation.
We rated the practice as Outstanding for providing Effective services because we found:-
Outcomes for people who used services were consistently better than expected when compared with other similar services. The practice worked with hard to reach groups to make services accessible so we have also rated all the population groups as outstanding..
The practice used the information collected for the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) and performance against national screening programmes to monitor outcomes for patients.
The practice was not an outlier for QOF (or any other national targets).
The practice was committed to working collaboratively and had found innovative and efficient ways to deliver more joined-up care to people who use services.
There was a holistic approach to assessing, planning and delivering care and treatment and the practice identified innovative and efficient ways to deliver more joined-up care to patients.
We rated the practice as Outstanding for providing a caring service because we found:-
The practice demonstrated a strong patient centred culture.
Results from the GP patient survey showed that patient’s satisfaction with patient experience and access to appointments were consistently higher than CCG and national averages.
The practice responded to patient feedback, acted on suggestions received and made improvements where possible. They had improved the appointment system to provide more continuity and availability to all the population groups.
We rated the practice as Outstanding for providing a responsive service because we found:-
We found that the practice had made patient needs and preferences central to its systems in place to ensure flexibility, choice and continuity of care.
The practice had enhanced the processes in place to ensure they could deliver both on the day and routine GP appointments in order to meet patients’ needs.
Results from the GP patient survey showed that patient’s satisfaction with how they could access care and treatment and overall experience was consistently higher than CCG and national averages.
Responsiveness, timely access and improvements to appointment availability was a benefit to all the population groups and so we have rated all the population groups as outstanding.
We rated the practice as Outstanding for providing a well-led service because we found:-
We saw that the leadership of this practice combined with their governance and culture were used to drive and improve the delivery of patient centred care.
The GP partners along with the practice team demonstrated they had the experience, capacity and capability to run the practice and ensure high quality and compassionate care.
Governance and performance management arrangements were proactively reviewed.
The practice had an active PPG and were very receptive to any changes and improvements suggested by patients and staff.
The leadership team drove continuous improvement and staff were accountable for delivering change. Practice leaders were innovative and openly shared their ideas with others. There was a clear proactive approach to seeking out and embedding new ways of providing care and treatment.
The areas where the provider should make improvements are:
- Improve oversight of the maintenance of the building to ensure risks are mitigated. For example, legionella water temperature monitoring.
Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.
Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care