Alconbury & Brampton Surgeries

Updated 26 August 2022

Alconbury & Brampton Surgeries is located in Huntingdon at:

The Surgery

School Lane

Alconbury

Huntingdon

Cambridgeshire

PE28 4EQ

The practice has a branch surgery at:

69 Miller Way

Brampton

Huntingdon

Cambridgeshire

PE28 4RU

Alconbury has a dispensary on site and this was visited as part of this inspection.

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 and family planning. These are delivered from both sites.

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

The practice is situated within the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough integrated care system area (ICS) and delivers General Medical Services (GMS) to a patient population of about 12,882. This is part of a contract held with NHS England.

The practice is part of a wider network of GP practices called A1 Network Primary Care Network (PCN).

Information published by Public Health England shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the highest decile (10 of 10). The lower the decile, the more deprived the practice population is relative to others.

According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the practice area is 2% Asian, 94% White, 1% Black, 2% Mixed, and 1% Other.

The age distribution of the practice population closely mirrors the local and national averages. There are more male patients registered at the practice compared to females.

There is a team of 10 GPs who provide cover at both practices. The practice has a team of 5 nurses who provide nurse led clinics for long-term condition of use of both the main and the branch locations. The GPs are supported at the practice by a team of health care assistants (HCA) and reception/administration staff. The practice manager and assistant practice managers provide managerial oversight at both practices.

The practice is open between 8:30 am to 6 pm Monday to Thursday and between 8:30 am to 5 pm on a Friday. The practice offers a range of appointment types including book on the day, telephone consultations and advance appointments.

Extended access is provided locally by West Cambs Federation, where late evening and weekend appointments are available. Out of hours services are provided by Herts Urgent Care (HUC) which is accessed via the NHS 111 service.

Updated 26 August 2022

We carried out an announced focused inspection at Alconbury & Brampton Surgeries on 3 August 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as good.

Safe - Good

Effective – Good

Caring – Good (carried forward from previous inspection)

Responsive – Good (carried forward from previous inspection)

Well-led - Good

Following our previous inspection on 16 December 2016 the practice was rated Good overall and for all key questions.

The ratings for the key questions caring and responsive are carried forward from the previous inspection, these key questions have not been included in this report due to our methodology and no risk identified during the monitoring process.

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Alconbury & Brampton Surgeries on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection

We undertook this inspection as part of a random selection of services which have had a recent Direct Monitoring Approach (DMA) assessment where no further action was needed to seek assurance about this decision and to identify learning about the DMA process.

How we carried out the inspection

Throughout the pandemic CQC has continued to regulate and respond to risk. However, taking into account 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
• Staff questionnaires

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 provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• The system for ensuring all emergency equipment were safe to use required strengthening.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• 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.

Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:

• Continue to improve the uptake of cervical screening.
• Continue to monitor and improve prescribing of antibacterial drugs.
• Review and improve systems to ensure all emergency equipment is safe to use.

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