Archived: Catherine House Surgery

Catherine House Surgery is a GP practice providing primary care services for people in and around Totnes, Devon. It provides services from Catherine House Surgery, The Plains, Totnes, Devon TQ9 5HA where we carried out an announced inspection on 8 July 2014. It also has a branch surgery held at St Peters Church, Harbertonford Devon TQ9 7TA, this is offered one day a week and by appointment only.

When the practice is closed patients are advised to contact the Out of Hours service, which is operated by a different provider.

As part of our inspection we spoke with five patients after their appointments and a member of the patient participation group (PPG). This group acts a voice for patients at the practice. We received seven comments cards completed by patients. Both verbal and written comments were all very positive about the practice and the care and treatment patients received from the GPs and nursing team. We also spoke with the senior partner who was also the registered manager of the practice, three other GPs, two practice nurses, a healthcare assistant, the practice manager and reception and administration staff.

Catherine House Surgery provided safe clinical care for its patients. Staff knew how to safeguard vulnerable patients and children, and how to monitor and manage risk for patients. The practice was effective in meeting the wide range of patients’ needs and it supported the continuity of patient care through established working relationships with other agencies and services such as social services. Patients experienced person-centred and holistic care and treatment. Staff were caring and compassionate towards their patients treating them with dignity and respect, giving them time and making them feel they were being heard.

Catherine House Surgery was not meeting the requirements relating to staff recruitment. Full and relevant checks were not always completed for all staff prior to employment at the practice.

There were areas at the practice that needed improvement to ensure administrative processes and procedures were up to date and safe:

Infection control practice did not always follow the practice policy and procedure.

Records of staff registrations, insurance and training information were not kept up to date

Audits cycles were not always dated, full and complete with actions for outcomes.

Roles and lines of accountability were not well-defined.

The nurses and GPs were trained in providing care and treatment for medical conditions affecting older people. The practice recalled patients with long term health conditions for annual health checks to provide a more holistic approach to care and treatment and to avoid patients with more than one long term condition being called separately for each condition. The nursing team provided annual checks and health action plans for patients with learning disabilities. Effective systems were in place for GPs to seek advice and support if they had concerns about a child or a vulnerable adult and to raise a safeguarding alert if they felt the child or vulnerable adult was in danger of significant harm.

The practice offered longer opening hours one evening a week to accommodate working patients’ needs and an open access service for two hours every morning for all patients.  The open access was particularly popular with parents of young children, patients with mental ill health, and patients in vulnerable circumstances who may have poor access to primary care.