Callington Health Centre

Updated 20 August 2018

Callington Health Centre provides primary medical services to people living in the practice was located in a rural area of Cornwall and was a dispensing practice. A dispensing practice is where GPs are able to prescribe and dispense medicines directly to patients who live in a rural setting which is a set distance from a pharmacy.  Tamar Valley Health provides primary medical services for 16084 patients of which 10,040 attend the health centre at Callington:

Callington Health Centre

Haye Road

Callington

Cornwall

PL17 7AW

The practice has a branch surgery at Gunnislake Health Centre, The Orchard, Gunnislake, Cornwall PL18 9JZ. On 11 July 2018, we inspected Callington Health Centre only.

The practice population is in the sixth deprivation decile for deprivation. In a score of one to ten the lower the decile the more deprived an area is. The practice has much higher percentage of patients over 65 years (Practice 27.5%, Cornwall 23.8% and England 17.2%) and this is growing faster than the average England growth rate. Average life expectancy for the area is similar to national figures with males living to an average age of 79 years and females to 83 years.

There is a team of six GP partners, five GP associates and two pharmacist partners. There are seven female and three male GPs. The team are supported by a nurse prescriber, five practice nurses and five health care assistants who work across Callington and Gunnislake Health Centres. The practice employs two pharmacists who are able to prescribe and review medicines. There are also additional administrative and reception staff.

Patients who use the practice have access to community staff including district nurses, community psychiatric nurses, health visitors, physiotherapists, mental health staff, counsellors, chiropodist and midwives.

The practice is open between Monday and Friday from 8.30am until 6pm. Extended hours are provided one night each week (alternating Mon/Tues/Wed/Thurs), 18.00 – 20.00, usually at both health centres. Every Saturday (except Bank Holiday weekends), 08.30 – 11.00 at either Callington Health Centre or Gunnislake Health Centre. Extended hours appointments are pre-bookable and preferably for patients that find it difficult to attend during normal working hours and cannot be made on the day. Outside of these hours a service is provided by another health care provider by patients dialling the national 111 service.

Routine appointments are available daily and are bookable up to six weeks in advance. Urgent appointments are made available on the day and telephone consultations also take place.

The practice runs the Tic Tac (advice and support) service at Callington College where young people are able to access sexual health screening, contraception advice, smoking cessation and support for mental health issues five days a week. Young people do not need to be registered with the practice and are seen in a confidential setting and able to have appointments with a GP, nurse, school nurse or counsellor.

Updated 20 August 2018

We  carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Callington Health Centre on 8 December 2017. The overall rating for the practice was good, with well led rated as requires improvement. The full comprehensive report on the Month Year inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Callington Health Centre on our website at .

This inspection was an announced focused inspection carried out on 11 July 2018 to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirement in relation to the breach in regulations that we identified in our previous inspection on 8 December 2017. This report covers our findings in relation to that requirement and also additional improvements made since our last inspection.

The overall rating for the practice remains unchanged as good. As a result of the improvements made the well led domain is now rated as good.

Our key findings were as follows:

• The practice had established effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care, particularly in regard of monitoring staff training and development, assurance of oversight of the complaints process and increased patient engagement.
• The recruitment process had been reviewed setting out how different responsibilities and activities of all staff are assessed to determine if they are eligible for a DBS check and to what level.
• Processes for obtaining and acting on patient feedback, including verbal and written complaints had been reviewed.
• The whistleblowing policy had been reviewed and included the name and contact details of the local Freedom to Speak Up Guardian to act as an independent and impartial source of advice to staff, with access to anyone in the organisation, or if necessary outside the organisation. Staff were aware of who the Freedom to Speak Up Guardian was and when to contact them.
• The process for registering new patients, including the checking of identity was reviewed with staff and spots checks undertaken to ensure the Data Protection Act 1998 and General Data Regulations 2018 were met.

Updated 20 August 2018

Updated 20 August 2018

Updated 20 August 2018

Updated 20 August 2018

Updated 20 August 2018

Updated 20 August 2018