We carried out a review of the data available to us about Springfield House on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Springfield House, you can give feedback on this service.
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Springfield House on 23 November 2018 as part of our inspection programme.
We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service on a combination of:
We have rated this practice as good overall and good for all population groups.
We found that:
Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:
Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.
Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGPChief Inspector of General Practice
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Springfield House on 18 March 2015. The overall rating for the practice following this inspection was requires improvement.
On 30 September 2016 we carried out an announced comprehensive follow up inspection to check the required improvements had been carried out. The improvements had not been carried out and the overall rating for the practice was inadequate. The practice was placed in special measures.
The full comprehensive reports on the March 2015 and September 2016 inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Springfield House on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
This inspection was undertaken following the period of special measures and was an announced comprehensive inspection on 30 June 2017. Overall the practice is now rated as good.
Our key findings across all the areas we inspected on 30 June 2017 were as follows:
The areas where the provider should make improvement are:
Action plans should be in place to address the lower patient satisfaction levels following the most recent national GP patient survey.
Systems should be in place to respond to the needs of patients with mental health issues.
I am taking this service out of special measures. This recognises the significant improvements made to the quality of care provided by this service.
Chief Inspector of General Practice
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Springfield House on 30 September 2016. Overall the practice is rated as inadequate.
The practice had been previously inspected on 18 March 2015. Following that inspection the practice was rated as requires improvement with the following domain ratings:
Safe – Inadequate
Effective – Requires improvement
Caring – Good
Responsive – Good
Well led – Requires improvement.
The practice provided us with an action plan detailing how they were going to make the required improvements. In addition, they wrote to us on 2 August 2016 to confirm all the required actions had been addressed.
The inspection on 30 September 2016 was to confirm the required actions had been completed and award a new rating if appropriate.
Following this re-inspection on 30 September 2016, our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:
Patients were at risk of harm because systems and processes were not in place to keep them safe. For example recruitment checks on staff did not ensure they were of good character, fire safety checks were not adequate and there was no health and safety risk assessment.
Non-clinical staff were not clear about reporting incidents, near misses and concerns and there was no evidence of learning and communication with all staff. Not all incidents were reported appropriately.
Information about how to complain was available but not all complaints were appropriately investigated or responded to.
Training was not well monitored and there was no evidence of all staff completing appropriate training.
Not all staff were aware of who their line manager was and performance appraisals had not been carried out for over a year.
Extended hours opening was not available.
GPs carried out audits and there was evidence of quality improvement following clinical audit cycles.
There was a patient participation group (PPG) which told us the practice listened to their ideas.
The areas where the provider must make improvements are:
The provider must introduce effective governance procedures. These must include processes for reporting, recording, acting on and monitoring significant events, incidents and near misses, investigating and responding to complaints, ensuring all medical equipment is within its expiry date and assessing the performance of non-clinical aspects of the practice, making improvements where issues are identified.
The provider must ensure all relevant training for staff is completed and training is monitored so it can be repeated at appropriate intervals.
The provider must review chaperone procedures to avoid embarrassment to patients. In addition they must ensure access to appointments is available for patients under the age of 16 who have the appropriate level of competence and wish to attend without a parent or guardian.
The provider must ensure all recruitment checks are in place to ensure staff are of good character.
The provider must assess the health and safety of patients and staff at the practice and take action where issues are found. This includes having fire safety assessments and checks in place.
The areas where the provider should make improvement are:
The provider should improve access to health checks for patients aged 40 to 75 and the over 75 age group who are not in care homes.
The provider should have a system in place to improve their identification of carers and offer more formal support to carers.
The provider should review their arrangements for home visits so patients in need of urgent medical attention are easily identified.
The provider should provide up to date appraisals for staff.
I am placing this service in special measures. Services placed in special measures will be inspected again within six months. If insufficient improvements have been made such that there remains a rating of inadequate for any population group, key question or overall, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures to begin the process of preventing the provider from operating the service. This will lead to cancelling their registration or to varying the terms of their registration within six months if they do not improve.
Special measures will give people who use the service the reassurance that the care they get should improve.
Chief Inspector of General Practice
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Springfield House Medical Centre on 18 March 2015. Overall the practice is rated as requires improvement.
Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing caring and responsive services. We found the practice to require improvement for providing effective and well-led services. We found the practice inadequate in relation to providing safe services. It also required improvement for providing services for all the population groups that we assess.
Our key findings were as follows:
The provider must:
The areas where the provider should make improvements are:
Chief Inspector of General Practice