Background to this inspection
Updated
11 January 2019
St Katherine's Surgery is located in the market town of Ledbury in Herefordshire and provides primary medical services to patients. The practice covers Ledbury and surrounding villages stretching over Worcestershire and Gloucestershire borders. It has 8,800 patients and the practice is in a purpose-built building. The practice population is the seventh least deprived decile in England. Level one represents the highest levels of deprivation and level ten the lowest. The practice has a General Medical Services contract with NHS England.
The practice has six GP partners (two male and four female), a primary care practitioner, a clinical pharmacist, three practice nurses and two healthcare assistants. The clinical team are supported by a practice manager, and thirteen administrative, reception and secretarial staff.
The practice is an approved training practice for training FY2 doctors and fourth and final year medical students. FY2 doctors are on a two-year, general postgraduate medical training programme which forms the bridge between medical school and specialist/general practice training.
The practice treats patients of all ages and provides a range of medical services including NHS health checks, family planning, minor surgery and mental health and disease management clinics which includes asthma, diabetes, heart disease and lung diseases and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
There is no parking on site and patients have to access on- street parking. A chaperone service is available for patients who request this service. This is advertised throughout the practice.
The practice is open between 8am-6pm Monday to Friday. Home visits are available for patients who are too ill to attend the practice.
The practice does not provide an out of hours service to their patients. When the practice is closed patients are directed to contact Primecare via 111.
The practice website can be viewed at: www.stkatherinessurgery.co.uk
Updated
11 January 2019
This practice is rated as Good overall. (Previous rating 14/04/15 – 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 St Katherine’s Surgery on 22 November 2018 as part of our inspection programme.
At this inspection we found:
- There was an open and transparent approach to safety and a system in place for recording, reporting and learning from significant events. 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.
- There were clear responsibilities, roles and systems of accountability to support effective governance.
- Most staff had completed the basic life support training, however we noted that some of the GPs training was out of date. After the inspection the practice sent us evidence that this had been booked for staff to attend.
- 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.
- The practice engaged with external organisations to improve the quality of services delivered for practice patients and the local population.
- Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
- The practice responded to complaints in a timely and open manner.
- There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.
The areas where the provider should make improvements are:
- Continue to monitor and review the uptake for cervical screening.
- Review systems to ensure that all staff remain up to date with the practice’s mandatory training.
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.