Thurmaston Health Centre

Updated 12 September 2023

Thurmaston Health Centre is located in Thurmaston at:

573a Melton Road

Thurmaston

Leicester

LE4 8EA

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, family planning and surgical procedures.

The practice is situated within the Leicester and Leicestershire Integrated Care System (ICS) and delivers Alternative Provider Medical Services (APMS) to a patient population of about 6,280 patients. This is part of a contract held with NHS England.

The practice is part of a wider network of GP practices called Watermead Primary Care Network (PCN).

Information published by Office for Health Improvement and Disparities shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the sixth decile (6 of 10). The lower the decile, the more deprived the practice population is relative to others.

According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the practice area is 56% White, 38% Asian, 2% Black, 2% Mixed, and 2% Other.

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

There is a team of 3 GPs who provide cover at the practice. The practice has a team of 6 advance nurse practitioners and 3 nurses who provide nurse led clinics for long-term conditions. The practice has 2 health care assistants to support the clinical team.The GPs are supported at the practice by a team of reception/administration staff. The practice manager and assistant practice manager are based at the main location to provide managerial oversight with support from other team leads.

The practice is open between 8am to 6:30 pm Monday to Friday. The practice offers a range of appointment types including book on the day, telephone consultations and advance appointments.

Extended access is provided locally by Watermead PCN at Birstall Medical Centre, where late evening and weekend appointments are available. Out of hours services are provided by Derbyshire Health United by contacting NHS 111.

Updated 12 September 2023

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection) at Thurmaston Health Centre on 21 August 2023. Overall, the practice is rated as requires improvement.

Safe - requires improvement.

Effective - good.

Caring - requires improvement.

Responsive - requires improvement.

Well-led - good.

We previously inspected the location under its previous provider on 17 December 2020, the practice was rated requires improvement overall and for all key questions. The practice changed provider and inherited the regulated history and ratings of the predecessor. The new provider registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in May 2022.

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

Why we carried out this inspection

We carried out this comprehensive inspection to provide a rating of the location under the new provider and in line with our inspection priorities.

This was a comprehensive inspection and therefore we have reported on all key questions; safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led .

How we carried out the inspection.

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site.

This included:

• Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing.
• Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system (this was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements).
• Reviewing patient records to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider.
• Requesting evidence from the provider.
• A short site visit.
• Staff questionnaires.

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:

• The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• There system for monitoring patients’ health in relation to the use of medicines including high risk medicines needed strengthening as did the system for monitoring patients effected by safety alerts.
• 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.
• GP patient survey data was below ICB and national averages, and the practice had not completed patient their own patient feedback exercises to fully understand patients experiences.
• 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 improve the uptake of cervical screening.
• Continue to identify, contact and assess patients who are eligible for NHS health checks including patients with learning disabilities.
• Continue to monitor and further improve the systems and processes in place to link diagnosis with medicines prescribed.
• Review and improve the system and processes to identify patients effected by safety alerts.
• Continue to monitor and review backlog of summarising medical notes.
• Engage in patient feedback exercises to further improve and measure improvements to services.

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 Health Care