Background to this inspection
Updated
20 August 2018
Dr JH Clarke and Partners surgery offers general medical services to people living and working in East Grinstead. There are approximately 14,100 registered patients. The surgery has seven partner GPs (male and female) and six salaried GPs. The practice is a training practice and hosts GP registrars (one was on placement during the inspection), foundation year 2 doctors, medical students and student nurses. There are five practice nurses, including a nurse prescriber, a healthcare assistant and two phlebotomists.
The practice has two practice managers splitting business management and patient services management. In addition, the practice has a reception manager, an IT manager, IT personnel and administrative and reception staff.
The practice was open between 8.00am and 6.30pm Monday to Friday. Appointments were from 8.00am to 12.45pm every morning and 1.30pm to 6.30pm daily. The practice is closed between 12.45pm and 1.30 and during this time a phone number is provided for patients seeking to speak with a GP. The practice offers extended hours appointments from 7.15am every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and until 8.00pm on Mondays. There were also pre-bookable appointments on some Saturday mornings (four dates each year). In addition to pre-bookable appointments that could be booked up to six weeks in advance, urgent appointments were also available for people that needed them.
The practice population has marginally higher than average proportion of elderly patients. They have a lower than average percentage of patients with a long-term health condition and a lower than average proportion of patients who are unemployed.
Services are provided from:
Moatfield Surgery
St Michael's Road
East Grinstead
West Sussex
RH19 3GW
The practice uses the services of IC24 a local out of hours service.
The practice runs a number of services for its patients including asthma clinics, child immunisation clinics, diabetes clinics, new patient checks, and weight management support.
Further information on the practice and services provided can be found on their website, www.moatfield.co.uk
Updated
20 August 2018
Dr JH Clarke and partners is rated as good overall. (Previous inspection 15 December 2015 rated as good overall).
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) - Outstanding
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dr JH Clarke and partners on 8 March 2018. The inspection was carried out as part of our inspection programme.
Following this inspection, we received information of concern that led us to carry out an unannounced inspection on 29 March 2018. Concerns raised included the lack of medication reviews and care plan reviews for older patients, issues with safety in areas of the practice environment, security of prescription paper, restrictions on recording and reporting significant events and a lack of reception cover. The review of these concerns is incorporated into the findings in this report.
At this inspection we found:
- The practice had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the practice learned from them and improved their processes.
- The practice routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.
- Patient records we saw were clear, accurate and contained comprehensive information about the care and treatment of patients.
- Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
- The practice had appropriate and safe facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs. The practice had plans for significant redevelopment to improve facilities further.
- Patients said they were able to book an appointment that suited their needs. Pre-bookable, on the day appointments, home visits and phone consultation services were available.
- Recruitment procedures kept patients safe. This included recruitment records for temporary staff.
- Staff had been provided with appropriate training, supported to develop new skills and received an up to date appraisal. Induction systems were comprehensive and tailored to each staff member.
- Staff were positive about working in the practice, their training and support and the openness of senior staff.
We saw one area of outstanding practice:
The practice used innovative and proactive methods to improve patient outcomes, working with other local providers to share best practice. For example, the practice had achieved two service pacesetter awards; one children and young people's service Pacesetter award through the local Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) for their work in designing appropriate services for young people noted at our last inspection in 2015 and a second awarded in 2018 for work to develop ‘mental health friendly’ services. The latter was in collaboration with a neighbouring CGG and coastal West Sussex MIND, a mental health charity.
The area where the provider should make improvements are
Continue to keep the toilet facilities and potential issues with the old lift pit under review until such time as they are resolved by the redevelopment programme.
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice