Aspen Medical Practice

Updated 15 February 2021

Aspen Medical Centre is located at The Aspen Centre, Horton Road, Gloucester, Gloucestershire, GL1 3PX.

There are two branch surgeries located at;

Saintbridge Surgery

Askwith Road

Gloucester

GL4 4SH

and

Tuffley Surgery

38 Warwick Avenue

Tuffley

Gloucester

GL4 0SL

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

Aspen Medical Centre is situated in the Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and provides services to approximately 29,500 patients under the terms of a general medical services (GMS) contract.

The clinical team comprises a mix of twelve GP partners and thirteen salaried GPs, one physician’s associate, five advanced nurse practitioners, one paramedic practitioner, twenty-five practice nurses/health care assistants and four clinical pharmacists. A Chief Executive Officer, assisted by an administration manager, finance manager, operations manager and a risk and compliance manager oversee the management of Aspen Medical Centre, and they are supported by additional admin and reception staff, spread across the three locations.

Out of hours services are provided by NHS 111.

Updated 15 February 2021

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Aspen Medical Practice on 14 February 2020 as part of our inspection programme.

We carried out an inspection of this service as a follow up to our last inspection in March 2019, to follow up on concerns and breaches of regulation identified at that time and to ensure that improvements had been made and patients were receiving safe care and treatment.

When we last inspected Aspen Medical Practice in March 2019 it had been rated as Requires Improvement overall; Requires Improvement for providing safe and responsive services; Good for providing effective, caring and well led services and Requires Improvement for all the population groups.

This inspection focused on the following key questions:

• Are services safe?
• Are services effective?
• Are services caring?
• Are services responsive?
• Are services well led?

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 Aspen Medical Practice as Good overall; Good for providing safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led services and Good for all the population groups because:

• At this inspection, we found all the areas of concern from the last inspection had been addressed and improved.
• We found that the practice had successfully coped with a 20,000 patient increase in their list size due to the recent mergers of three local practices
• Patients’ needs were assessed, and care and treatment was delivered in line with current legislation, standards and evidence-based guidance supported by clear pathways and tools.
• The practice had a comprehensive programme of quality improvement activity and routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care provided.
• Staff had the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care, support and treatment.
• Staff worked together and with other organisations to deliver effective care and treatment.
• There was compassionate, inclusive and effective leadership at all levels. This included working with and supporting the practice Patient Participation group (PPG).
• The practice had a clear vision and set of values that prioritised quality and sustainability.
• The practice had a culture that drove high quality sustainable care.
• There were clear responsibilities, roles and systems of accountability to support good governance and management.
• There were clear and effective processes for managing risks, issues and performance.
• We provided the practice with Care Quality Commission feedback cards prior to the inspection and we received 26 completed cards. Patients were extremely positive about the practice staff, their experiences, and the care and treatment they received.

Although we did not find any beaches of regulation at this inspection, we did see some areas where the provider should make improvements. These are:

• Continue monitoring the uptake of cervical screening in line with national guidance.
• Continue monitoring exception reporting to support patients with long term conditions.

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

Updated 27 March 2020

Updated 27 March 2020

Updated 27 March 2020

Updated 27 March 2020

Updated 27 March 2020

Updated 27 March 2020