The Care Quality Commission
  • Doctor
  • GP practice

Archived: The Grange Family Health Centre

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Stubbing Road, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, S40 2HP (01246) 748000

Provided and run by:
Holywell Medical Group

Important: The provider of this service changed. See new profile

All Inspections

14 October 2014

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We inspected Holywell Medical Group on 14 October 2014. There are five branch surgeries that comprise Holywell Medical Group, however on this occasion we only visited two; The Grange Family Health Centre (the main practice) and Rectory Road Medical Centre. This was a comprehensive inspection.

Our overall rating for Holywell was that the practice is good.

We have set a compliance action related to the management of medicines which has made the rating for ‘safe’ as requires improvement. All other areas of the practice which we inspected are rated as good.

Our key findings were as follows:

  • Patients at The practice were clinically assessed and care and treatment was provided in line with best practice. We found the care and treatment offered to patients to be compassionate and delivered to meet patient’s needs.
  • The practice had taken steps to improve and address issues that had been highlighted in previous Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection reports. However, we were not assured that all of the steps taken were robust and sustainable, as some systems relied on individuals rather than a practice based approach.
  • Access to the service had improved, although some patients still reported difficulty making an appointment. There were plans to introduce a new telephone system to help address this problem.
  • Our observations and comments received from patients suggested that staff treated patients with respect, kindness and compassion.

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

Importantly, the provider must:

  • Secure the small controlled drugs safe container at Rectory Road in line with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society guidelines and ensure that the number of controlled drugs on the premises tally with the record of receipt and disposal.
  • Ensure clinical waste bags are stored in line with recognised guidance.

Additionally the provider should:

  • Review the needs of working patients in respect of the practice’s opening times to ensure patients who work can access to the service at convenient times for them to avoid the risk of them not being seen when they need to be.

Identify what steps the practice would take in response to patient feedback from the patient participation group survey.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

25 March 2014

During an inspection looking at part of the service

We inspected Holywell Medical Group on 17 September 2013 and found non-compliance in all of the areas we looked at. This inspection visit was to follow up on the areas of non-compliance and check that the provider had achieved compliance as outlined in their action plan.

During this inspection visit we visited all five surgeries, with a team of five inspectors and two specialist advisors who were both experienced practice managers.

We noted that there had been a number of improvements since our last inspection visit. However at that last inspection patients told us that there were considerable difficulties making an appointment, particularly by telephone. This was because it was very difficult to get through to the surgery.

We again looked at the telephone appointments system and some patients said they had seen an improvement. Comments received included: 'I am generally happy with the service. I booked my appointments three weeks ago. The doctors are polite. Some reception staff are sympathetic. The rooms are clean.' 'It's been better since your CQC (Care Quality Commission) visit. I can now get an emergency appointment if I really need it. There has been a vast improvement.

However some patients remained unhappy with the system and made the following comments: 'I don't like this one number thing. I always come in to make an appointment as everybody rings at 8:00 am and you can be on the phone for half an hour and it costs a fortune.' Another patient said: 'The appointment system is a joke. I rang yesterday for 45 minutes before I spoke to anyone. By that time the appointments had gone.

With regard to the care that patients received most were happy, although they found it frustrating that they didn't always see the same GP.

At the time of our inspection the provider did not have a registered manager in post.

17 September 2013

During an inspection in response to concerns

We spoke with 32 patients during our inspection, 11 patients on the day of our visit and a further 21 patients by telephone. We did this to help us to understand the outcomes and experiences of patients who used the practice. During our inspection we visited The Grange and the branch surgery at Rectory Road.

All of the patients we spoke with during our inspection raised concerns about the difficulties they experienced in trying to access appointments. The majority of patients told us that it can take a number of days, or even weeks, for them to obtain an appointment and this had impacted on their health and welfare. Patients' comments included: 'Getting an appointment is a nightmare. You can't just ring and book a convenient appointment you have to call at 8am and you are lucky if you get through. By 8.15am they are fully booked so I can't always get to see a doctor when I need to' and, 'I am having hospital tests and my complaint is quite serious but I can't get an appointment, it is awkward and frustrating.'

We also found that the provider did not have suitable arrangements in place to protect patients and staff visiting the practices, to ensure staff received appropriate training or to monitor the quality of service patients received. In addition, the provider did not have an effective system in place to identify, assess and manage the risks to the health, safety and welfare of patients using the service and others.