Background to this inspection
Updated
15 May 2019
Firs House Partnership is located in Cambridgeshire and the NHS Peterborough & Cambridgeshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) area.
The practice has five GP partners and two salaried GPs. One GP is designated as the senior partner. All GP partners have lead responsibilities and management roles. There is a mixture of two male and five female GPs. The practice is also a training practice and trainee GPs work there on a short-term basis carrying out consultation under the supervision of one of the partner GPs. There were two trainee GPs working at the practice at the time of inspection.
The GPs are supported by a team of four nursing staff, one health care assistant and one phlebotomist, managed by a senior nurse. In addition to this, there was a number of administrative, secretarial and receptionist staff managed by a deputy practice manager and practice manager.
The surgery also offers services from a branch site in the nearby village of Cottenham. Both surgeries are open between 8am and 6pm daily. The main site is closed between 1pm and 2pm each day and the Cottenham site is closed between 1pm and 2pm each day. Whilst the practice is closed during these periods, the practice provides emergency cover for patients who require it. When the practice is closed, patients can access services through NHS 111, an out of hours provider, Herts Urgent Care.
The practice population at the time of inspection was approximately 12,404. The practice demographics differed from the CCG and England averages due to a higher than average population of patients aged 65 years and over.
Updated
15 May 2019
This practice is rated as Good overall. At the previous inspection in August 2015, the practice was rated as Outstanding overall.
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 Firs House Partnership on 18 March 2019 as part of our inspection programme.
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 concluded that:
- Patients were able to access care and treatment in a timely way.
- Quality Outcomes Framework data was generally in line, or above, local and national averages. However, exception reporting data was higher than both the CCG and England averages in indicators such as mental health.
- Feedback from patients was positive about the practice, including the staff team.
- Members of staff we spoke with were positive about working at the practice and the support provided by the leadership team.
- The practice worked closely with the local community and implemented a number of activities to support the population and provide health and lifestyle advice.
- The practice worked effectively with their Patient Participation Group (PPG) and undertook a number of engagement activities.
At the previous inspection in August 2015 the practice was rated as Outstanding for providing responsive and well led services. At this inspection we have rated the practice as good for providing responsive and well led services as we found the practice had sustained these areas but had not further improved and developed them. These services that had been identified as outstanding services have been adopted as good practice across the wider primary care system.
The areas where the provider should make improvements are:
- Review and improve the management of sharps waste management.
- Continue to review and improve the exception reporting rate for QOF mental health indicators where appropriate.
- Review and improve the process for handling safety alerts to ensure all actions are recorded.
- Review and improve the number of learning disability health checks provided.
- Review and improve the practice’s performance in childhood immunisations.
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