Aldermoor Surgery

Updated 14 January 2016

Aldermoor Surgery is situated at Aldermoor Close, Southampton, SO16 5ST.

The practice has an NHS General Medical Services contract to provide health services to approximately 8,000 patients in and around the northern areas of Southampton. The practice is situated in a NHS owned building which the practice lease. The surgery has treatment rooms, staff training rooms and consulting rooms all of which are on the ground floor.

The practice is open between 8.00am and 6.30pm Monday to Friday. Appointments are available from 8.30am and 6.30pm. Phone lines are open at 8:00am to book on the day appointments.

Patients could book appointments two weeks and one week in advance and for the following day. If the patient needed to see a GP urgently on the day they were put into a triage system and a GP would phone to assess the patient. Extended hours appointments are available on Tuesday evenings with a GP, a nurse and a health care assistant.

The practice also offered home visits if required and appointments with the practice nurses if the patient felt they did not need to speak with a GP.

The practice offered online booking of appointments and requesting prescriptions.

The practice had opted out of providing out-of-hours services to their own patients and referred them to the Out of Hours service via the NHS 111 service.

The practice has three GP partners, two male and one female and three female salaried GPs. The practice has two nurse practitioners, three practice nurses and two health care assistants. The GPs and the nursing staff are supported by a practice manager and a team of 12 administration staff who carry out administration, reception, scanning of documents, medicines management, data quality and secretarial duties.

The practice was last inspected by the Care Quality Commission in October 2013 when they were found to be meeting the required standards of care.

Updated 14 January 2016

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Aldermoor Surgery on 25 November 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and an effective system in place for reporting and recording significant events.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance. Staff had the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
• 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.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and that there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.
• 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 management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the Duty of Candour.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 14 January 2016

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.
• Performance for diabetes related indicators was similar to the clinical commissioning group (CCG) and national average. The practice achieved 84.9% compared to a CCG average of 87.7% and national average of 89.9%.
• 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 medicines 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 14 January 2016

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 living in disadvantaged circumstances and who were at risk, for example, children and young people who had a high number of A&E attendances. Immunisation rates were relatively high for all standard childhood 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 practice’s uptake for the cervical screening programme was 72.2%, which was comparable to the CCG average of 73.2% and the national average of 76.7%.
• Appointments were available outside of school hours and the premises were suitable for children and babies.
• We saw good examples of joint working with midwives, health visitors and district nurses.

Updated 14 January 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of older people.

• The practice offered proactive, personalised care to meet the needs of the older people in its population.
• There was an allocated Over-75s community nurse who worked with the community matron to meet the needs of elderly patients, especially those who had chronic illnesses, were housebound or prone to recurrent hospital admissions.
• It was responsive to the needs of older people, and offered home visits and urgent appointments for those with enhanced needs.

Updated 14 January 2016

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 was proactive in offering online services as well as a full range of health promotion and screening that reflects the needs for this age group.

Updated 14 January 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia).

• 92.5% of people diagnosed with dementia had their care reviewed in a face to face meeting in the last 12 months.
• The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of people experiencing poor mental health, including those with dementia.
• It carried out advance care planning for patients with dementia.
• The practice had told patients experiencing poor mental health about how to access various support groups and voluntary organisations.
• It had a system in place to follow up patients who had attended accident and emergency where they may have been experiencing poor mental health.
• Staff had a good understanding of how to support people with mental health needs and dementia.

Updated 14 January 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable.

• The practice held a register of patients living in vulnerable circumstances including homeless people and those with a learning disability.
• It offered longer appointments for people with a learning disability.
• 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 and how to contact relevant agencies in normal working hours and out of hours.