Frome Medical Practice

Updated 16 June 2022

Frome Medical Practice is located in Frome, East Mendip in Somerset at:

Enos Way

Frome

Somerset

BA11 2FH

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

The practice is situated within the NHS Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and delivers General Medical Services (GMS).

The practice provides care to 30,000 patients living in and around Frome. Information published by Public Health England shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the 4th lowest decile, with 10 being the least amount of deprivation. The practice is based in an area of average deprivation (7 out of 10, with 10 being the least amount of deprivation). The ages of the practice population were in line with national averages. 2% of the practice population have an ethnic minority background.

The age distribution of the practice population closely mirrors the local and national averages. There are slightly more female patients registered at the practice compared to males.

There is a team of five GP partners, 12 salaried GPs, a long-term locum and two GP registrars. The practice has a team of three mental health nurse practitioners, nine nurse practitioners, an advanced paramedic practitioner and a triage nurse. The advanced paramedic and some of the nurse practitioners were part of the practice home visiting or care home services. There was a team of 11 practice nurses and 10 healthcare assistants. The nurses provide nurse led clinics for

patients with long term conditions. There was a pharmacy team and a physiotherapist based at the practice.

The team were supported by a practice manager, a HR manager, a finance controller, an IT manager, patient services manager, clinician support services manager and a quality assurance officer. There was a care coordination hub team to support patients in their communities to manage their health and wellbeing, medical secretaries, care navigators, health connectors and apprentices. There were 137 staff employed by the practice. The practice was the lead contractor for Mendip area for the community hospital.

Due to the enhanced infection prevention and control measures put in place since the pandemic and in line with the national guidance, most GP appointments were telephone consultations.

The practice has opted out of providing out of hours services to their patients. Patients are advised to contact the out of hours services via the NHS 111 service.

Updated 16 June 2022

We carried out an announced inspection at Frome Medical Practice on 28 April 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.

Set out the ratings for each key question

Safe - Good

Effective -Good

Caring-Good

Responsive-Good

Well-led - Good

Following our previous inspection on 9 June 2021, the practice was rated Requires Improvement overall and for the safe and well-led key questions. Effective, caring and responsive key questions were rated Good.

A warning notice was served related to regulation 12 and a desk based review was carried out on 20 October 2021 to check compliance with the notice. This desk based review was not rated. We found the practice had complied with the warning notice.

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

Why we carried out this inspection

This inspection was a focused comprehensive inspection which covered the following:

The key questions of safe, effective and well-led.

The ratings for the caring and responsive key questions of Good were carried forward from our previous inspection.

How we carried out the inspection

Throughout the pandemic CQC has continued to regulate and respond to risk. However, taking into account the circumstances arising as a result of the pandemic, and in order to reduce risk, we have conducted our inspections differently.

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site. This was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements.

This included:

• Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing
• Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system and discussing findings with the provider
• Reviewing patient records to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider
• Requesting evidence from the provider
• A short site visit

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 have rated this practice as Good overall

We found that:

• The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• The practice adjusted how it delivered services to meet the needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
• The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.

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

• Continue to encourage uptake of childhood vaccinations.
• Continue to encourage uptake of cervical screening

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

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care