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  • GP practice

Archived: Spring Hill Practice

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

19-21 Oldhill Street, London, N16 6LD (020) 8806 6993

Provided and run by:
The Lawson Practice

Latest inspection summary

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Background to this inspection

Updated 9 August 2017

Springfield GP Led Health Centre is situated within the NHS City and Hackney Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and has approximately 7,550 patients. Services are provided at the practice under an Alternative Provider Medical Services (APMS) contract between The Lawson Practice and NHS England. APMS contracts are provided under Directions of the Secretary of State for Health and provide the opportunity for locally negotiated contracts and allow Primary Care Organisations (PCOs) to contract with non-NHS bodies, such as voluntary or commercial sector providers.

Springfield GP Led Health Centre offers a full range of enhanced services including minor surgery, child and travel vaccines, and family planning including coil fitting provided by The Lawson Practice which is a Partnership of six GPs. The Lawson Practice is registered with the Care Quality Commission to carry on the following regulated activities at The Springfield GP Led Health Centre, 19-21 Oldhill Street, London N16 6LD: Diagnostic and screening procedures, Family planning, Maternity and midwifery services, Surgical procedures and Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

The Springfield GP Led Health Centre is located within a converted residential property and has three floors with all clinical treatment rooms on the ground floor. The practice had experienced delays in securing premises improvements, particularly over the last two years due to funding that was granted not being transferred and a move to a new premises being delayed.

The staff team at the practice includes two female GP Partners, one of whom is the Registered Manager; six salaried GPs (one male working two sessions and five female working a total of 28.5 sessions per week; 1.5 whole time equivalent (WTE) practice nurses (one working 37.5 hours and the other 12 hours per week); a female health care assistant working 27 hours per week; a part time clinical pharmacist; two full time practice managers; and a team of reception and administrative staff working a mixture of full time and part time hours.

The practice’s opening hours are between 8:00am to 8.00pm every weekday and 10.00am to 6.00pm on Saturday and Sunday. It closes for lunch between 1.00pm and 2.00pm daily but the phone lines remain open for urgent calls. GP appointments are available from 8.00am to 8.00pm every weekday and from 8.00am to 1.00pm and from 2.00pm to 6.00pm on Saturdays and Sundays. Appointment types include home visits, telephone consultations and online pre-bookable appointments. Urgent appointments are available for patients who need them. Patients telephoning when the practice is closed are transferred automatically to the local out-of-hours service provider.

The Information published by Public Health England rates the level of deprivation within the practice population group as three on a scale of one to ten. Level one represents the highest levels of deprivation and level ten the lowest. The practice area has a lower percentage of people over 65 years of age (4% compared to 17% nationally). The average life expectancy for the practice is 79 years for males (compared to 78 years within the CCG and 79 years nationally), and 84 years for females (compared to 82 years within the CCG and 83 years nationally). Locally held demographic data showed 28% of registered patients were Orthodox Jewish; 25% Asian (Indian, Bengali, Pakistani (most Gujarati speaking); 18% of mixed race; 7% African; 6% Eastern European; 6% Spanish and Portuguese speaking; and 10% from other ethnic minority groups.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 9 August 2017

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We previously carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Springfield GP Led Health Centre on 02 November 2016. The overall rating for the practice was good. Within that overall rating the practice was rated as requires improvement for providing safe services. This was because it was not meeting legal requirements in relation to some aspects of:

  • Infection prevention and control.

  • Medicines storage.

  • Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks for staff. DBS

The full comprehensive report of the November 2016 inspection can be found at www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-584576678.

This inspection on 19 July 2017 was an announced focused inspection and was carried out to confirm that the practice had completed its plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches in regulations that we identified in our previous inspection on 02 November 2016. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements.

Overall the practice is rated as good.

Our key findings were as follows:

  • The practice took action to mitigate risks associated with the spread of infection and with legionella.

  • Arrangements for storing medicines requiring cold storage were robust.

  • A system was in place to ensure all staff received DBS checks in line with the practice’s policy.

The practice had also acted on recommendations we made at our previous inspection and implemented additional improvements:

  • The practice had put in place a system for routinely and regularly checking the defibrillator to ensure it was in good working order at all times. The checks ensured the defibrillator battery was charged and the defibrillator pads were within their expiry date. A log was kept to record when the checks were completed.

At our previous inspection on 02 November 2016 we rated the practice as requires improvement for providing safe services because not all risks to the health and safety of service users were being managed and mitigated, some medicines were not stored safely, and there were gaps in the information the provider maintained in respect of some of the staff it employed. At this inspection we found these shortfalls had been remedied. Consequently, the practice is rated as good for providing safe services.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP

Chief Inspector of General Practice

People with long term conditions

Good

Updated 9 August 2017

The practice is rated as good for the care of p eople with long-term conditions.

The rating was given following the comprehensive inspection in November 2016. A copy of the full report following the November 2016 inspection is available on our website at www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-584576678.

Families, children and young people

Good

Updated 9 August 2017

The practice is rated as good for the care of families, children and young people .

The rating was given following the comprehensive inspection in November 2016. A copy of the full report following the November 2016 inspection is available on our website at www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-584576678.

Working age people (including those recently retired and students)

Good

Updated 9 August 2017

The practice is rated as good for the care of working age people (including those recently retired and students) .

The rating was given following the comprehensive inspection in November 2016. A copy of the full report following the November 2016 inspection is available on our website at www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-584576678.

People experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia)

Good

Updated 9 August 2017

The practice is rated as good for the care of p eople experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia).

The rating was given following the comprehensive inspection in November 2016. A copy of the full report following the November 2016 inspection is available on our website at www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-584576678.

People whose circumstances may make them vulnerable

Good

Updated 9 August 2017

The practice is rated as good for the care of p eople whose circumstances may make them vulnerable .

The rating was given following the comprehensive inspection in November 2016. A copy of the full report following the November 2016 inspection is available on our website at www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-584576678.