Background to this inspection
Updated
6 August 2019
Kingsbury Court Surgery provides a range of primary medical services, including minor surgical procedures from its location at Church Street, Dunstable, Bedfordshire, LU5 4RS. It is commissioned by the NHS Bedfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). The practice holds a General Medical Services contract (GMS), this is a nationally agreed contract with NHS England.
The practice serves a population of approximately 8,500 patients with a slightly higher than national average population of patients aged over 65 years. The practice population is 89% white British.
The practice supports three local care homes.
Information published by Public Health England rates the level of deprivation within the practice population group as seven on a scale of one to ten. Level one represents the highest levels of deprivation and level ten the lowest.
The clinical team consists of three male GP partners and two salaried GPs (one male and one female). At the time of our inspection, one of the GP’s was working in a non-clinical capacity due to a suspension from the GP Register. The practice also employs two female practice nurses, one of which also works as a community matron providing home visits to patients unable to attend the practice. The clinical team also includes a health care assistant. The team is supported by a practice manager and a team of non-clinical, administrative staff. The practice also hosts midwifery clinics, a psychiatric clinic and a physiotherapist clinic on a weekly basis.
The practice operates from a two-storey purpose-built property, with disabled access throughout. Patient consultations and treatments take place on the ground floor level. There is a small car park outside the surgery, with limited disabled parking available.
Kingsbury Court Surgery is open from 8am to 6.30pm on Monday to Friday with extended availability for telephone consultations on Mondays until 8pm. When the practice is closed, out of hours services are can be accessed via the NHS 111 service. Information about this is available in the practice and on the practice website.
The practice provides family planning, surgical procedures, maternity and midwifery services, treatment of disease, disorder or injury and diagnostic and screening procedures as their regulated activities.
Updated
6 August 2019
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Kingsbury Court Surgery on 09 January 2019. The overall rating for the practice was requires improvement and warning notices were issued. We carried out an announced follow up inspection on 27 March 2019 and found that the practice had made sufficient improvements and was compliant with the warning notices.
The full comprehensive report on the January / March 2019 inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Kingsbury Court Surgery on our website at .
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Kingsbury Court Surgery on 19 June 2019.
Our judgement of the quality of care at this service is based 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.
The practice is rated as good overall.
(previously rated as requires improvement in January 2019)
We rated the practice as good for providing safe care because:
- The practice did not hold a record of staff immunisations. Shortly after the inspection, we received evidence of an action plan to ensure clinicians were appropriately immunised.
- The practice did not ensure blank prescriptions were held securely overnight. Shortly after the inspection we received a revised protocol to ensure all blank prescriptions were removed from printers overnight.
- Safety alerts were appropriately managed however, we saw evidence that a safety alert regarding antidepressant medicine had not been appropriately acted on. Shortly after the inspection, we received evidence that the affected patients had been identified and booked appointments to review their treatment.
- People who used the service were protected from avoidable harm and abuse, and legal requirements were met.
- The practice ensured appropriate a review of medicines was completed prior to prescribing.
- The practice had adequately assessed risks that affected patient safety, such as fire, health and safety and infection prevention and control. We saw evidence of action plans and remedial work being completed.
We rated the practice as good for providing effective care because:
- Monthly audits of children who did not attend or were not brought to appointments were completed and each case was discussed individually, and appropriate actions taken.
- The practice regularly met with community teams to discuss and coordinate care for vulnerable patients or patients with complex needs.
We rated the practice as good for providing caring services because:
- Patients were supported, treated with dignity and respect and were involved as partners in their care.
We rated the practice as good for providing responsive care because:
- The practice had employed a further salaried GP and used regular locum staff to ensure consistency of care and increased clinical capacity.
- Patients told us they could get appointments when they needed.
We rated the practice as good for providing well-led services because:
- Patients’ needs were met by the way in which services were organised and delivered.
- Key policies had been reviewed and embedded into practice.
- The leadership, governance and culture of the practice promoted the delivery of high-quality person-centred care.
There were areas where the provider should make improvements are:
- Continue to identify and support carers
- Complete the identified plan to maintain a record of staff immunisations and vaccinations.
Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.
Dr Rosie Benneyworth BS BM BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care