The Plane Trees Group Practice

Updated 21 February 2024

The Plane Trees Group Practice is located at 51 Sandbeds Road, Pellon, Halifax HX2 0QL.

The provider is registered to deliver the regulated activities of diagnostic and screening procedures; maternity and midwifery services; treatment of disease, disorder or injury; and, surgical procedures.

The practice is situated within the The West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) and delivers a General Medical Services contract (GMS) to a patient population of over 9000 patients. This is part of a contract held with NHS England. The practice is part of a wider Primary Care Network (PCN).

The Plane Trees Group Practice has a higher than the national average percentage of patients in the over 65 age group, and lower levels of income deprivation when compared to other practices in the local area. They score 3 (of 10) on the deprivation rating scale with 1 being the lowest score.

The practice is open between 8am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday. The practice offered extended hours Monday to Friday from 6.30pm to 8pm and on a Saturday between 9am and 5pm.

Out of hours services are provided by 111.

Updated 21 February 2024

We carried out a targeted assessment of The Plane Trees Group Practice in relation to the responsive key question. This assessment was carried out on 5 January 2024 without a site visit. Overall, the practice is rated as Good. We rated the key question of responsive as Good.

Safe - Good

Effective – Good

Caring - Good

Responsive – Good

Well-led – Good

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for the The Plane Trees Group Practice on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection

We carried out this assessment as part of our work to understand how practices are working to try to meet demand for access and to better understand the experiences of people who use services and providers.

We recognise the work that GP practices have been engaged in to continue to provide safe, quality care to the people they serve. We know colleagues are doing this while demand for general practice remains exceptionally high, with more appointments being provided than ever. In this challenging context, access to general practice remains a concern for people. Our strategy makes a commitment to deliver regulation driven by people’s needs and experiences of care. These assessments of the responsive key question include looking at what practices are doing innovatively to improve patient access to primary care and sharing this information to drive improvement.

How we carried out the inspection

This inspection was carried out remotely.

This included:

• Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing.
• Requesting evidence from the provider.

Our findings

We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service on a combination of:

• what we found when we inspected
• information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services and
• information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.

We found that:

• Patients who responded to the National GP Survey stated it was easy to contact the practice and responded positively to the overall experience of making an appointment.
• The practice was below national average for patients who were satisfied with appointment times and the appointment they were offered.
• Since the National GP Survey the practice had made improvements to their appointments system, this had resulted in a significant increase in appointments offered.
• The practice used performance data to target and improve access.
• The practice understood the needs of its local population and had carried out an in-depth analysis of their patient population and developed services accordingly.
• The practice had worked collaboratively within its primary care network and GP federation to ensure additional types of appointments and extended hours were available.
• The practice dealt with complaints in a timely manner and learned from them.

Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:

• Continue to develop solutions to provide better access to their patients.

Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Hospitals and Interim Chief Inspector of Healthcare