Watership Down Health

Updated 19 August 2022

Watership Down Health is in Basingstoke, Hampshire at three locations:

Overton Surgery

Station Road

Overton

Hampshire

RG25 3DU

The practice has branch surgeries are at:

Oakley Surgery

Sainfoin Lane

Oakley

Hampshire

RG23 7HZ

Kingsclere Medical Practice

North Street

Kingsclere

Newbury

RG20 5QX

There was a dispensary, at the Kingsclere branch, which we visited as part of the inspection.

Watership Down Health is situated within the North and Mid Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and is part of the Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Integrated Care System (ICS). The practice is part of a wider network of GP practices known as the Rural West Primary Care Network (PCN) and provides services to approximately 18,950 patients under the terms of a general medical services (GMS) contract.

For the locality, the practice has a higher than average patient population over the age of 65 and those living with long term conditions. The practice is located in an area of minimal deprivation.

The Overton site is open between 8am and 6.30pm, Monday to Friday.

The Oakley site is open between 8am and 12.30pm and 2pm to 5.30pm, with the exception of Wednesdays when it is open from 8am to 12.30pm

The Kingsclere site is open between 8.30am and 1pm and 2pm to 6.30pm Monday to Friday.

Routine consultations were usually booked between 09.00-12.00 and 3pm to 5.20pm daily. The provider works with another local practice to deliver improved access services. This includes access to routine appointments between the hours of 6.30pm to 8.00pm Monday to Friday, and 9.00am to 11.00am on Saturdays.

When the practice is not open, cover is provided by HantsDoc (NHUC) an out-of-hours GP co-operative.

The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening procedures, maternity and midwifery services and treatment of disease, disorder or injury and surgical procedures. These are delivered from all sites with the exception of surgical procedures which are only available at The Overton site.

The practice offers services from both a main practice and the branch surgeries Patients can access services at either surgery.

There is a team of seven GP partners and eight salaried GPs who provide cover at both practices. This is a training practice and had approximately two or three trainee GPs at any time. The practice has a team of four practice nurses, led by a nurse manager who provides nurse led clinics for long-term conditions at both the main site and the branch locations. They are supported by three health care assistants and two phlebotomists. The clinical team are supported at the practice by a team of reception/administration staff. There is a Practice Business Manager based, at the main location to provide managerial oversight, a Practice Manager based at a branch site and two Assistant Practice Managers one based at the main location and one at a branch site, along with a large team of administration and reception staff, who work across all three sites.

Updated 19 August 2022

We carried out an announced inspection at Watership Down Health, Basingstoke, Hampshire between 19 and 26 April 2022.

At the previous inspection in January 2019 we rated the practice as requires improvement for providing safe, effective and well led services.

At this inspection, we found improvements had been made across all the areas of concern previously identified and the provider is now compliant with the regulations. We have now rated this practice as Good overall.

Safe - Good

Effective – Good

Well-led - Good

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Watership Down Health on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection

Due to the reported concerns at the previous inspection in January 2019 we issued a requirement notice for Regulation 17 ‘Good governance’ and Regulation 18 Staffing.

This was because, we found they did not have effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care and staff undertaking regulatory activities did not receive the appropriate support, training, professional development, supervision and appraisal necessary to enable them to carry out their duties.

We carried out an announced inspection between 19 and 26 April 2022 to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches in regulations that we identified in our previous inspection in January 2019.

How we carried out the inspection

Throughout the pandemic CQC has continued to regulate and respond to risk. However, considering the circumstances arising as a result of the pandemic, and in order to reduce risk, we have conducted our inspections differently.

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site. This was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements.

This included:

• Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing
• Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system and discussing findings with the provider
• Reviewing patient records to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider
• Requesting evidence from the provider
• A short site visit (at Overton and Kingsclere)

Our findings

We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service on a combination of:

• what we found when we inspected
• information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services and
• information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.

We have rated this practice as Good overall

We found that:

• The practice had made significant improvements since our previous inspection in January 2019.
• The practice was able to demonstrate staff had the skills, knowledge and experience to carry out their roles. Staff members were appraised annually and received appropriate supervision and training.
• The practice had updated and merged all policies and procedures across its three sites.
• The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• The practice adjusted how it delivered services to meet the needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
• The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.
• Staff we spoke with reported that they felt well supported and worked in an open and friendly environment where leaders were always accessible.
• The practice had a good and supportive relationship with the patient participation group.
• The practice had a comprehensive strategy to manage the workforce both currently and in the future.

Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Hospitals and Interim Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services