The Care Quality Commission
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Archived: Dr. P F Tynan and partners

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

38 King Street, Lancaster, Lancashire, LA1 1RE (01524) 541651

Provided and run by:
Dr. P F Tynan and partners

All Inspections

16 June 2015

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

This is a focused desktop review of evidence supplied by Dr. P F Tynan and partners for the one area of Staffing & Recruitment within the key question Safe.

Overall, the practice is rated as good. Following this focus desktop review of the practice, we found the practice to be good for providing safe services.

Dr. P F Tynan and partners, known locally as King St Surgery and Lancaster University Medical Practice was inspected on the 23rd October 2014. The inspection was a comprehensive inspection under the Health and Social Care Act 2008. At that inspection, the GP practice was rated ‘good’ overall. However, for the key question Safe, recruitment procedures were identified as ‘requires improvement’ as the practice was not meeting the legislation in place at that time, (Regulation 21 Health & Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010 Requirements relating to workers).

At the inspection in October 2014, we found the practice did not have records to confirm all clinical staff had a Disclosure and Criminal Barring (DBS) check in place and information was not available to assure the practice that all clinical staff were registered appropriately to undertake their role. In addition, evidence was not available to show that the GP Safeguarding lead for the practice had received level 3 training as required.

This report is a review of the evidence supplied by the practice to demonstrate how they are now meeting the requirements of the Health & Social Care Act 2008 (HSCA2008). Following the last inspection, the GP practice supplied an action plan with timescales telling us how they would ensure they met regulation 21 of the Health & Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010 (HSCA 2008).

The practice has submitted to CQC, a range of documents that demonstrate they are meeting the requirements of the Health & Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010 and the new legislation that has superseded this, (Regulation 19 The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 Fit and proper persons employed). Evidence supplied included records that showed all staff had had a DBS check undertaken, that checks on the registration, and revalidation status of all clinical staff had been completed and a safeguarding training matrix showed that all GPs have received level 3 safeguarding training.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

23rd October 2014

During a routine inspection

The King Street and University Medical Practice was inspected on the 23rd October 2014. We carried out a comprehensive inspection of this service under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under The Care Act 2014.

The practice works over two sites, one in Lancaster city town centre and one on the Lancaster university campus on the outskirts of the city. Patients registered at the practice could use both the King Street and University site as they wished.

The practice is rated good overall but one key question around the safety of the practice requires improvement.

Our key findings were as follows:

  • The clinical team each had areas to lead on and took responsibility to ensure practice and protocols were in line with current best practice guidance.
  • Patients we spoke with told us they were involved with their own care and were happy with how the practice treated them.
  • Risk assessment and risk management plans took into account patient and staff safety.

We saw areas of outstanding practice including:

  • The practice has a practice application that can be downloaded to a smart phone. The phone application allows the user to access the practice website to review information, order prescriptions and book appointments.

However, there were also areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

Importantly, the provider must:

  • Have all the evidence they need to ensure all clinical staff are suitably qualified and registered to complete their role.
  • Ensure all senior staff are trained in safeguarding at the appropriate level and within given timescales in line with practice policies and good practice guidelines.

In addition the provider should:

  • Request a fire service risk assessment of King Street as one has not been completed since 2009. Fire drills and all testing of equipment should be recorded.
  • Implement actions on infection control audits in a timely manner.
  • Ensure they have one consistent and available complaints procedure

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

21 August 2013

During a routine inspection

During the time we spent at the practice we spoke to a number of people about the service. We spoke with patients either before or after their treatment, three GP's, the practice director, two practice managers, a nurse practitioner, a practice nurse, a medical secretary and two administration/reception staff. We also spoke to the commissioning department of NHS England. This was in order to gain a balanced overview of what patients experienced using this practice.

Patients spoke highly of the way they were treated by staff and were happy with the treatment and support shown to them. Comments from patients included, "The whole family are patients here. We have never experienced any problems."

Patients we spoke with felt they were given enough information about treatment options. One patient said, "The service has been great. The doctor always explains everything.'

Care and treatment was planned and delivered in a way that ensured patient's safety and welfare. We spoke with the doctors and nursing staff regarding the assessment of patients and looked at documents used. Patients confirmed that they felt confident that the doctors and nursing staff understood their condition.

Staff received training in safeguarding and were able to describe the possible signs that abuse was occurring.

The provider carried out a satisfaction survey and had a patient participation group which enabled them to monitor the quality of the service provided.