Background to this inspection
Updated
9 July 2021
Maples Family Medical Practice is situated in Hinckley, a town to the north west of the city of Leicester. It has approximately 10,300 patients and the practice’s services are commissioned by West Leicestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). They are also a part of the Hinckley and Bosworth Medical Alliance Federation which is made up of 13 GP practices working together to deliver healthcare for local communities. Patient demographics reflect the national picture and life expectancy is very similar to national averages. Information published by Public Health England, rates the level of deprivation within the practice population group as eight, on a scale of one to ten. Level one represents the highest levels of deprivation and level ten the lowest. The practice has a General Medical Services Contract (GMS). The GMS contract is the contract between general practices and NHS England for delivering primary care services to local communities.
At Maples Family Medical Practice, the service is provided by three GP partners (male), one salaried GP (female), an advanced nurse practitioner, three nurses, two health care assistants, a phlebotomist, an operations manager and a team of administration and reception staff.
The practice has one location registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) which is Maples Family Medical Practice, 35 Hill Street, Hinckley, Leicestershire, LE10 1DS.
The practice is open between 8.30am to 1.00pm and 2.00pm to 6.30pm Monday to Friday. When the practice is closed patients are directed to contact the out-of-hours GP services by calling the NHS 111 service
Updated
9 July 2021
We carried out a comprehensive inspection at Maples Family Medical Practice on 10 May 2021. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of evidence reviewed, and staff interviews were undertaken remotely in after the site visit, on 12 May 2021 and 20 May 2021.
The practice had previously received a comprehensive inspection in October 2019 when it received an overall rating of requires improvement. The safe, effective, responsive and well-led domains were rated as requires improvement; the caring domain was rated as good. All population groups were rated as requires improvement. However, the practice had shown improvement from the original inspection on 5 February 2019 and was taken out of special measures. The practice was rated as inadequate following the initial inspection.
You can read the comprehensive inspection reports by selecting the 'all reports' link for Maples Medical Practice on our website at www.cqc.org.uk
Following our inspection in May 2021, the practice is now rated as good overall. The practice is rated as good for providing safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led services. All population groups are rated as good.
The service is now rated as good for providing safe services because:
- The practice had made significant improvements since the previous inspection.
- The practice had oversight of significant events and shared learning with the wider team. Significant events were a standing item on the agenda for all relevant meetings.
- Staff were aware of where the emergency medicines and equipment were held.
- There was an effective system in place for the dissemination of safety alerts and we saw they were audited, and reviews documented.
The service is now rated as good for providing effective services because:
- The practice had developed audits reflecting updates in clinical guidance and the learning was shared with staff and changes made as a result.
- The process for recalling patients for annual reviews had been overhauled, for example to a telephone follow up call after a visit. Our audit of the system showed health and medicines needs were being met.
- There were arrangements for children who were ‘not bought’ to secondary care for consultations
- The most recent Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) showed improvement and indicators were in line with national and local outcomes.
The service continues to be rated as good for providing caring services.
The service is now rated as good for providing responsive services because:
- The practice had oversight of complaints to ensure risk was monitored
- There were care plans in place for patients with dementia.
- The practice had undertaken changes as a result of the patient survey and planned an internal one once the pandemic allowed.
The service is now rated as good for providing well-led services because:
- The practice had developed a governance system and the management team were involved in the oversight of this at regular meetings.
- There was a business plan in place which had been updated to reflect the risk created by the pandemic.
- There were embedded systems in place for identifying and mitigating risk.
Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence table.
Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care