Archived: Summerlee Medical Centre

Updated 12 September 2017

Summerlee Medical Centre is based in Summerlee Road, Finedon, Northamptonshire, NN9 5LJ, and provides a range of primary medical services from its premises, which were a former village church and community centre.

The practice has approximately 1200 patients and provides services to the surrounding villages in rural Northamptonshire. The area’s deprivation level recorded as being in the fifth most deprived decile.

Life expectancy for males, at 82 years, is two years higher than both the CCG average and national average. Life expectancy for females, at 86 years, is three years higher than the CCG and national averages.

The practice age profile broadly follows the England national profile; however there are approximately 4% more males across the age range of 40-70 years of age, than both local CCG and national averages.

The clinical team includes one female GP partner supported by a team of regular locum GPs a female practice nurse and health care assistant. The practice is managed by the practice manager and a team of administration, reception and secretarial staff. The practice provides services under a General Medical Services (GMS) contract (a nationally agreed contract).

Summerlee Medical Centre is open Monday to Friday from 8am until 6.30pm. An out of hours service, for when the practice is closed, is provided by NHS 111 service. Information about the service is provided on the telephone message, the practice leaflet and is displayed on notices boards at the practice.

Updated 12 September 2017

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of Summerlee Medical Centre on 11 October 2016. The overall rating for the practice was good with requires improvement for safe.

The full comprehensive report from the October 2016 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Summerlee Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk .

This inspection was an announced focused follow up inspection carried out on 17 August 2017 to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to meet the recommendations for improvement that we identified in our previous inspection on 11 October 2016.

The areas identified as requiring improvement during our inspection in October 2016 were as follows:

The practice were told they should:

• Implement a system to ensure Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) alerts are received and acted upon appropriately.

• Ensure documentation in the staff files contains records of recruitment, training and appraisals.

• Develop the patient participation group (PPG) to gather feedback from patients and consider the use of a website to convey information to patients.

• Have an updated business continuity plan available ‘off-site’ to the partner and relevant managers.

• Consider the development of a documented business plan, to evidence the vision and strategic plans for the practice.

  Overall the practice is now rated as good in all areas.

  Our focused inspection on 17 August 2017 showed that improvements had been made and our key findings across the areas we inspected were as follows:

• There was an open and transparent approach to safety. The practice had improved the system to manage, review and monitor patient safety alerts. For example, alerts received from the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

• Documentation in the staff files were complete and contained records of recruitment, training and appraisals.

• An updated business continuity plan was available with a copy held off site by the practice manager.

• A business plan was available that documented medium to long term priorities.

• The practice was making good progress in developing a patient participation group. On account of their small patient population the practice had liaised with Nene clinical commissioning group to explore ways to engage with patients. This included innovative ideas such as a merged group with their sister practice in Irchester.

  The area where the provider should make improvement is:

• Continue with their efforts in canvassing patients to join a patient participation group.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 6 April 2017

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.
• 75% of patients on the asthma register had their care reviewed in the last 12 months. This was comparable to the local CCG average of 76% and national average of 75%.
• All newly diagnosed patients with diabetes were managed in line with an agreed pathway.
• Longer appointments and home visits were available when needed.
• All these patients had a named GP and a structured annual review to check their health and medicines needs were being met. For those patients with the most complex needs, the named GPs worked with relevant health and care professionals to deliver a multi-disciplinary package of care.
• The practice regularly reviewed their QOF achievement to identify if there were any areas which required additional focus, particularly for those patients with long-term conditions. These reviews were led by one of the nurse practitioners with the support of the practice manger and discussed at the practice clinical meetings.

Updated 6 April 2017

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 may be at risk, for example, children and young people who had a high number of A&E attendances.
• Immunisation rates were higher than the local and national averages for all standard childhood immunisations. The practice provided flexible immunisation appointments.
• 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 for women aged between 25 - 64 years was 90% which was higher than the local CCG and national average of 81%.
• Appointments were available outside of school hours and the premises were suitable for children and babies.
• The practice offered a range of family planning services.
• There were six week post-natal checks for mothers and their children.
• A range of contraceptive and family planning services were available.

Updated 6 April 2017

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.
• The practice was responsive to the needs of older people and offered home visits and urgent appointments for those with enhanced needs.
• A vaccination programme was in place for older people including, seasonal flu jabs, shingles and pneumococcal vaccinations.
• Patients over 75 years of age had a named GP and these patients were invited for health checks
• Patients discharged from hospital were contacted to check on their situation.

Updated 6 April 2017

The practice is rated as good for the care of working-age people (including those recently retired and students).

• The practice had adjusted the services it offered to ensure that appointments were accessible, flexible and offered continuity of care, the surgery was open from 8am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday.
• The practice provided a health check to all new patients and carried out routine NHS health checks for patients aged 40 - 74 years.
• A full range of health promotion and screening that reflected the needs of this age group, for example smoking cessation and weight management.
• Data showed 59% of patients aged 60 to 69 years had been screened for bowel cancer in the last 30 months compared to 59% locally and 58% nationally.
• Patients who had not attended for bowel screening were offered an appointment at the practice to discuss the service and its benefits to increase awareness and acceptance of the screening.
• Data showed 74% of female patients aged 50 to 70 years had been screened for breast cancer in the last three years compared to 77% locally and 72% nationally.

Updated 6 April 2017

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

• Staff had a good understanding of how to support patients with mental health needs and dementia and had received training in dementia awareness.
• 100% of patients diagnosed with dementia had their care reviewed in a face-to-face meeting in the last 12 months, (01 April 2015 to 31 March 2016), compared to the local CCG average of 86% and the national average of 84%.
• The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of people experiencing poor mental health, including those with dementia.
• The practice 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.
• The percentage of patients with schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder and other psychoses who had a comprehensive, agreed care plan documented in their record, in the preceding 12 months (01 April 2015 to 31 March 2016) was 100%, compared against the local CCG average of 91% and the national average of 89%.

Updated 6 April 2017

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 those with a learning disability.
• The practice had identified 31 patients as carers, approximately 2.5%, and offered them flexible appointment booking, health checks and flu vaccinations.
• The practice offered longer appointments for patients with a learning disability and there was a GP lead for these patients.
• The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of vulnerable people.
• The practice informed 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.