Background to this inspection
Updated
2 October 2018
Latham House Medical Practice provides primary medical services to approximately 35,660 registered patients from a surgery located in Sage Crosss, Melton Mowbray, Leicester, LE13 1NX close to the centre of the town. The practice has a branch surgery at Asfordby, Regency Road, Asfordby, Melton Mowbray, Leicester, LE14 3YL which was visited as part of this inspection. Latham House Medical Practice is the only practice serving the market town of Melton Mowbray and the surrounding area.
The service is provided by 12 partners (eight male and four female), five salaried GP’s (two male and three female), two pharmacists and one emergency care practitioner. The nursing team consists of 23 nurses and ten healthcare assistants. The practice is supported by a team of receptionists, administration staff and a management team.
The practices services are commissioned by East Leicestershire and Rutland Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). 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.
The practice website provides information about the healthcare services provided by the practice.
Latham House Medical Practice is open from 8.30am to 6.30pm with appointment times between 8.30am and 5.30pm at the main site at Melton Mowbray and in the mornings at Asfordby. The practice offered extended hours on Monday and Thursdays between the hours of 7.40am and 7pm. The practice offered an acute access service every morning at the main site between 8.30am and 12 noon to offer urgent on the day appointments.
The practice delivered a nurse led minor treatment unit at the Sage Cross Street surgery site.
When the practice is closed patients are asked to contact NHS 111 for out-of-hours GP care.
Updated
2 October 2018
This practice is rated as Good overall. (Previous rating November 2017 – Good)
The key questions at this inspection are rated as:
Are services safe? – Good
Are services effective? – Good
Are services caring? – Good
Are services responsive? – Good
Are services well-led? - Good
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Latham House Medical Practice on 5th September 2018 as part of our inspection programme to ensure the improvements we had seen in November 2017 had been maintained. The practice was inspected in December 2016 where breaches of legal requirements had been found in relation to governance arrangements within the practice. When we inspected in November 2017 we found Latham House Medical Practice to be rated good overall.
At this inspection we found:
- The practice had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the practice learned from them and improved their processes.
- The practice routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.
- Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
- Some patients reported long waiting times for appointments or when trying to contact the practice on the phone. The practice were aware of this and trying to implement improved methods for patient access.
- The practice had implemented a new management and governance structure to identify responsibilities and create a spine of executive meetings for decisions and discussions to be implemented quickly and effectively. There was an effective system for dissemination of information to the wider team.
- The practice emphasised the importance of building relationships with other healthcare agencies by hosting them at the practice to encourage discussions and coordinated patient care.
- There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.
- The practice management were aware of their limitations due to size and had put in place effective systems to provide effective healthcare for patients. They were future thinking about their practice and how they wanted to evolve patient care.
- Staff were proud to work at the practice and the practice had many longstanding members of staff. Staff were well supported at work with management having a genuine interest in their wellbeing. Staff reported Latham House Medical Practice was a family type team.
The areas where the provider should make improvements are:
- Ensure the system for prescription stationary includes recording the location within the practice.
- Ensure the management of policies at the branch site at Asfordby are reviewed and up to date.
- Ensure all emergency equipment and medicines are stored appropriately to reduce risk.
Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP
Chief Inspector of General Practice
Please refer to the detailed report and the evidence tables for further information.