Kingsholm Surgery

Background to this inspection

Updated 21 April 2017

Kingsholm Surgery is a GP practice located in Gloucester city centre. The premises are wheelchair accessible with consultation and treatment rooms available on the ground floor. The practice list has significantly increased within the past few years with additional patients registering with the practice through patient recommendations.

The practice provides general medical services to approximately 4,500 patients. Services to patients are provided under a General Medical Services (GMS) contract with NHS England. (A GMS contract is a contract between NHS England and general practices for delivering general medical services and is the commonest form of GP contract).

The practice has two GP partners and one salaried GP (two female and one male) which is equivalent to approximately two full time equivalent GPs. The clinical team includes an advanced nurse practitioner, two practice nurses and a health care assistant. The practice manager is supported by a team of nine receptionists, secretaries and administrators.

Information from Public Health England 2015 shows the practice population age distribution is comparable to both local and national averages. The practice cares for patients from different cultural backgrounds with approximately 89% of patients registered being white British.

The practice is located in an area with high social deprivation and is placed in the third most deprived decile by Public Health England. The prevalence of patients with a long standing health condition is 63% compared to the local clinical commissioning group average of 55% and the national average of 54%. People living in more deprived areas and those with long-standing health conditions tend to have greater need for health services.

The practice is open from 8.30am to 1pm and 2pm to 6pm Monday to Friday. Appointments are available from 8.30am to 1pm in the morning, and 2pm to 6pm in the afternoon. During the following periods; 8am to 8.30am, 1pm to 2pm and 6pm to 6.30pm every weekday, telephone calls are diverted to the practice call handling service (Message Link). They refer urgent matters to the practice that have members of staff on standby to respond to issues if needed. Appointments can be booked up to six weeks in advance and urgent on the day appointments are also available.

Out of hours cover is provided by South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust and can be accessed via NHS 111.

The practice provided its services from the following address:

Alvin Street

Gloucester

Gloucestershire

GL1 3EN

This was a desk-based inspection of Kingsholm Surgery.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 21 April 2017

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Kingsholm Surgery on 7 November 2016. The overall rating for the practice was requires improvement. The full comprehensive report on the November 2016 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Kingsholm Surgery on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This inspection was a desk-based review carried out on 28 March 2017 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 on 7 November 2016. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements and also additional improvements made since our last inspection.

Overall the practice is now rated as Good.

Our key findings were as follows:

The practice had reviewed and updated their fire procedures. A fire risk assessment and subsequent actions and recommendations had been carried out.
The practice had reviewed and updated their procedures for checking and maintaining emergency equipment, and medicines, and had implemented a log to check these regularly.
The practice had reviewed their Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) procedure to ensure that all staff who undertook chaperoning duties had received a DBS check. (DBS checks identify whether a person has a criminal record or is on an official list of people barred from working in roles where they may have contact with children or adults who may be vulnerable).
The practice had updated their training matrix to ensure that all outstanding training had been undertaken by all staff.
All staff that had been in post for a minimum of 12 months had received an annual appraisal.

During our previous inspection we also highlighted areas where the practice should consider improvement and these had improved as follows:

The practice had ensured that safety alerts were logged with actions taken recorded.
The practice continued to monitor and improve outcomes for patients with long term conditions.

The practice was improving their identification of carers.

The practice had established a patient participation group for engaging with their patients.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)

Chief Inspector of General Practice