Archived: Brandon Medical Practice

This practice is rated as Good overall. We previously carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Brandon Medical Practice on 8 August 2017. The overall rating for the practice was requires improvement (safe, caring, responsive and well led were rated as requires improvement, effective rated as good).

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Brandon Medical Practice

on 27 March 2018 to check that the provider had made the improvements required from the last inspection. Overall, the practice is now rated as good. The full reports on the August 2017 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Brandon Medical Practice on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? - Good

As part of our inspection process, we also look at the quality of care for specific population groups. The population groups are rated as:

Older People – Good

People with long-term conditions – Good

Families, children and young people – Good

Working age people (including those recently retired and students – Good

People whose circumstances may make them vulnerable – Good

People experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia) - Good

At this inspection we found:

• The practice is a member of the Suffolk Primary Care (SPC) partnership which is a partnership that consists of 11 GP practices. Through joint working the practice had extended their skill mix within the practice with first point physiotherapists and an emergency care practitioner.
• The practice had responded to patient’s feedback and held surgeries on one Saturday morning each month. Patients also had access to evening and weekend appointments at the GP+ service which operated in nearby Bury St Edmunds and Ipswich.
• There was an open and transparent approach for reporting and recording significant events and information was shared with the Suffolk Primary Care partnership for wider learning. The practice was working towards more joint meetings within the practice to ensure whole team reviews of events.
• The practice had good facilities and was equipped to treat patients and meet their needs. The practice had responded to patient feedback and had recently redecorated through the main building.
• There were arrangements for identifying, recording, and managing risks, issues, and implementing mitigating actions.
• A programme of continuous clinical and internal audit was used to monitor quality and to make improvements. In addition to the practice programme, there was a programme of audits across all the practices within Suffolk Primary Care partnership.
• Practice specific policies were implemented; the practice was in the process of migrating to the policies and procedures under the Suffolk Primary Care partnership governance. We saw evidence that this was being managed safely and systematically.
• All medicines we checked were in date and regular checks were undertaken.
• The practice had a system in place for handling complaints and concerns. We looked at documentation relating to complaints received in the previous six months and found that they had been fully investigated and responded to in a timely and appropriate manner.
• Data from the National GP Patient Survey, published in July 2017, showed patients rated the practice below average for most aspects of care. Since our previous inspection the practice had undertaken two patient surveys with improved results.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff, which it acted on. Staff told us they were able to undertake development opportunities.
• Staff were supported through a system of appraisals and continued professional development.
• Since our last inspection the practice had formed a patient participation group and we spoke with three members who gave positive feedback on the practice.
• The provider was aware of, and had systems in place to ensure, compliance with the requirements of the duty of candour.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Review and improve the uptake for childhood immunisations, specifically those relating to children aged two receiving the pneumococcal vaccine.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice