Archived: Swanswell Medical Centre

Updated 14 May 2015

Swanswell Medical Centre is located in Coventry and provides primary medical services to patients. The practice has two GP partners (one male and one female), two salaried GPs one of whom also takes on the role of practice manager. There is an assistant practice manager, one practice nurse, a health care assistant and administrative and reception staff. There were 1,500 patients registered with the practice at the time of the inspection. The main practice is open from 8.30am to 7pm Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays and from 8.30am to 6pm on Thursdays. Home visits are available for patients who are too ill to attend the practice for appointments. The practice has a branch surgery at Hillmorton Road, Coventry. We did not inspect the branch during this inspection. The branch is open for appointments and prescriptions for 2-3 hours per day as required, although patients are being encouraged to attend the main practice at Swanswell Medical Centre for appointments.

The practice treats patients of all ages and provides a range of medical services. The practice provides a number of clinics such as chronic disease management which includes asthma, diabetes, heart disease and stroke, chest, and mental illness. It offers child and travel immunisations. The practice does not provide an out-of-hours service but has alternative arrangements in place for patients to be seen when the practice is closed.

Swanswell Medical Centre has a Personal Medical Services (PMS) contract. The PMS contract pays GPs on the basis of meeting set quality standards and the particular needs of their local population. Swanswell Medical Centre will however, be changing to a General Medical Services (GMS) contract in April 2015. The GMS contract is the contract between general practices and NHS England for delivering primary care services to local communities.

Updated 14 May 2015

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We inspected this service on 27 January 2015 as part of our new comprehensive inspection programme.

The overall rating for this service is good. We found the practice to be good in the safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led domains. We found the practice provided good care to older people, people with long term conditions, families, children and young people, the working age population and those recently retired, people in vulnerable circumstances and people experiencing poor mental health.

Our key findings were as follows:

• Patients were kept safe because there were arrangements in place for staff to report and learn from incidents that occurred. The practice had a system for reporting, recording and monitoring significant events over time.

• There were systems in place to keep patients safe from the risk and spread of infection.

• Evidence we reviewed demonstrated that patients were satisfied with how they were treated and that this was with compassion, dignity and respect. It also demonstrated that the GPs were caring, good at listening to patients and gave them enough time.

• The practice had an open culture that was effective and encouraged staff to share their views through staff meetings and significant event meetings.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 14 May 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people with long-term conditions. There were emergency processes in place and referrals were made for patients whose health deteriorated suddenly. Longer appointments and home visits were available when needed.

All these patients had a named GP and a structured annual review to check that their health and medication needs were being met. For those people with the most complex needs, the named GP worked with relevant health and care professionals to deliver a multidisciplinary package of care.

Updated 14 May 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of families, children and young people. There were systems in place to identify and follow up children living in disadvantaged circumstances and who were at risk, for example, children and young people who had a high number of accident and emergency (A&E) attendances.

A ppointments were available around school hours. Emergency processes were in place and referrals were made for children and pregnant women whose health deteriorated suddenly. Child immunisations were carried out and there was a recall system in place to follow up where children had not received their appropriate vaccinations. The practice had taken part in a pilot scheme to offer seasonal immunisations to children in school years seven and eight.

Updated 14 May 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of older people. The practice offered proactive, personalised care to meet the needs of the older people in its population and had a range of enhanced services, for example, in dementia and end of life care. It was responsive to the needs of older people.

The practice offered home visits and fast access appointments for those patients with enhanced needs. Many of the patients had been with the practice for many years and were known to the GPs. As a small practice, relationships had been established over time which patients told us gave them the confidence that the GP knew their medical history and were able to respond to their health needs accordingly.

Updated 14 May 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of working-age people (including those recently retired and students). The needs of the working age population, those recently retired and students had been identified and the practice had adjusted the services it offered to ensure these were accessible, flexible and offered continuity of care.

The practice was proactive in offering on-line appointments and repeat prescription services, as well as a full range of health promotion and screening that reflected the needs of this age group. This included health checks for patients aged 40 - 70 years of age.

Updated 14 May 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia). The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of patients experiencing poor mental health. They carried out screening for patients identified at risk and advanced care planning for patients diagnosed with dementia.

Updated 14 May 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable. The practice held a register of patients living in vulnerable circumstances including those with a learning disability. It had carried out annual health checks for patients with a learning disability and most of these patients had received a follow-up. It offered longer appointments for these patients.

The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of vulnerable people. It confirmed that vulnerable patients were informed about how to access various support groups and voluntary organisations. Staff knew how to recognise signs of abuse in vulnerable adults and children. Staff were aware of their responsibilities regarding information sharing, documentation of safeguarding concerns and how to contact relevant agencies in both normal working hours and out-of-hours.