Background to this inspection
Updated
24 September 2019
St Augustine's Medical Practice is located within the Bath and North East Somerset (BANES) local authority and is one of 25 practices serving the NHS Bath and North East Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) area. It provides general medical services to approximately 10,700 patients.
The practice is in a purpose-built building into which they moved in 2018. There is a branch site located nearby in Saltford but we did not visit the branch site during this inspection. Staff work across both sites and patients can be seen at either the main location or the branch site.
The practice is a teaching practice with three GP trainers, and supports medical students from Bristol University.
Information published by Public Health England rates the level of deprivation within the practice population group as tenth on a scale of one to ten. Level one represents the highest levels of deprivation and level ten the lowest.
The practice has a slightly lower proportion of patients registered who are of working age, 57.4%, when compared to the CCG and national averages of 61.7% and 62% respectively. It has a higher percentage of elderly patients, 26.4%, than local and national averages which are 19.1% and 17.3% respectively.
The practice is led by two male and two female GP Partners who are contracted to provide Personal Medical Services (APMS) and who are registered with the CQC for the following regulated activities: diagnostic and screening procedures, family planning, maternity and midwifery services, surgical procedures and treatment of disease, disorder or injury.
The GP Partners are supported by five salaried GPs, two advanced nurse practitioners, one nurse practitioner, two practice nurses and a health care assistant. The practice Manager is supported by four senior managers and a team of 18 reception/administration staff.
The practice provides a range of services including maternity care, childhood immunisations, chronic disease management and travel immunisations and several enhanced services (enhanced services require an enhanced level of service provision above what is normally required under the core GP contract) including childhood immunisation, learning disability health checks, extended opening hours, and rotavirus and shingles immunisations. Private travel vaccinations are offered in addition to those available free of charge on the NHS.
Updated
24 September 2019
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at St Augustine's Medical Practice on 1 August 2019 as part of our inspection programme.
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 and good for providing safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led services. The practice is also rated good for all population groups.
We rated the practice as good for providing safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led services because:
- 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. The practice could demonstrate good patient outcomes were delivered.
- The practice organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs. Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
- Staff treated patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care. The practice ethos was to provide an accessible and approachable patient-orientated service.
- The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centred care. Leaders had the capacity and skills to deliver high-quality, sustainable care. They had a shared purpose which they strived to deliver whilst motivating staff to succeed.
- Feedback from patients who used the service, those close to them and external stakeholders was positive about the way staff cared for patients.
- Staff told us they felt supported and engaged with managers and there was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.
Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:
- Review their disclosure barring service (DBS) checks and risk assess those non-clinical staff to determine whether a DBS check is needed.
- Review arrangements to ensure that the immunisation status of staff is recorded in line with current Public Health England (PHE) guidance if relevant to role.
- Continue to review and take actions to reduce the exception rates to be within a minimum range of local and national rates
Please refer to the detailed report and the evidence tables for further information.
Dr Rosie Benneyworth
BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care