Archived: Sandy Lane Surgery

Updated 11 June 2015

Sandy Lane Surgery provides primary health care to patients living in Rugeley, Staffordshire. The surgery is located in a purpose built health centre which has been open since January 2007. Onsite parking is available.

A team of four GPs; a GP registrar; two nurse practitioners; four practice nurses; a health care support worker; two phlebotomists (a person trained to take blood from a vein for tests and investigations) a practice manager and 18 administrative staff provide care and treatment for approximately 11,200 patients. There are two female and two male doctors. The practice is a training practice for GP registrars to gain experience and higher qualifications in general practice and family medicine. The practice does not provide an out-of-hours service to its own patients but patients are directed to the Staffordshire Doctors Urgent Care Service when the practice is closed.

Updated 11 June 2015

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Sandy Lane Surgery on 22 April 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led services. It was also good for providing services for older people, people with long term conditions, families, children and young people, the working age population and those recently retired, people in vulnerable circumstances and people experiencing poor mental health

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and to report incidents and near misses. Information about safety was recorded, monitored, reviewed and addressed.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed, with the exception of those relating to telephone access to the practice.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff had received training appropriate to their roles and any further training needs had been identified and planned.
• 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.
• 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 the management.

However there were areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

Importantly the provider should:

• Monitor and review telephone access to the practice to support patients to book appointments.
• Ensure that patient group directions (PGD) are in date and current. PGDs are written instructions for the supply or administration of medicines to groups of patients who may not be individually identified before presentation for treatment.
• Work with and involve the patient participation group (PPG) in changes made to the service. A PPG is a group of patients registered with a practice who work with the practice to improve services and the quality of care.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 11 June 2015

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. Longer appointments and home visits were available when needed. All these patients had a named GP and a structured annual review to check that their health and medication 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 June 2015

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 who were at risk, for example, children and young people who had a child protection plan in place. Immunisation rates were relatively high for all standard childhood immunisations. We saw that 88% of preschool children and 86% of school age children had received the appropriate immunisations. 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 premises were suitable for children and babies with baby changing facilities available within the practice. We saw good examples of joint working with midwives and health visitors.

Updated 11 June 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of older people. Nationally reported data showed that outcomes for patients were good for conditions commonly found in older people. The practice offered proactive, personalised care to meet the needs of the older people in its population and had a range of enhanced services, for example, the hospital avoidance strategy. It was responsive to the needs of older people, and offered home visits and rapid access appointments for those with enhanced needs.

They maintained a register of patients who were housebound and worked with the adult community nurse service for the management of these patients. They were running a pilot to support frail elderly patients which was commissioned by the clinical commissioning group (CCG).

Updated 11 June 2015

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 some online services such as pre-bookable appointments with the practice nurse and prescription repeat requests. There was also a full range of health promotion and screening that reflected the needs for this age group.

Updated 11 June 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia). Eighty-nine per cent of people experiencing poor mental health had an agreed care plan in place and 69% of patients with dementia had received an annual health review. The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of people experiencing poor mental health, including those with dementia.

The practice had told patients experiencing poor mental health how to access support groups such as MIND and SANE that provide care and emotional support for patients, their families and carers. However, there was no formal system in place to follow up patients experiencing poor mental health who had frequently attended the accident and emergency (A&E) department.

Updated 11 June 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable. The practice held a register of patients with a learning disability. It had carried out annual health checks for people with a learning disability and offered longer appointments for people with a learning disability. There was a network of canals within the practice area meaning there were from time to time tourists and visitors who needed to register with the practice as a temporary patient. A protocol for the registration and care of this group of patients was in place.

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. They knew how to contact relevant agencies in normal working hours and out of hours.