Background to this inspection
Updated
7 December 2021
Symphony Health Services is the registered provider of Ryalls Park Medical Centre.
Ryalls Park Medical Centre services are provided from:
Marsh Lane
Yeovil
Somerset
BA21 3BA.
The practice delivers services under a general medical service (GMS) contract to approximately 5,954 patients. The practice is situated in a purpose-built building in a residential area with parking a short distance from Yeovil Hospital.
The practice is registered with the Care Quality Commission to deliver the following regulated activities:
Diagnostic and screening procedures; Family planning; Maternity and midwifery services; Surgical procedures and Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.
The practice’s clinical team consists of two GP partners, two salaried GPs, two advanced nurse practitioners, two practice nurses and three health care assistants. They are supported by team of administrators and reception staff as well as a practice manager, an operations manager and two performance managers.
Due to the enhanced infection prevention and control measures put in place since the pandemic and in line with the national guidance, most GP appointments were telephone consultations. If the GP needs to see a patient face-to-face then the patient is offered a choice of either the main GP location or the branch surgery.
When the practice is not open patients can access treatment via the NHS 111 service.
Updated
7 December 2021
We carried out an announced inspection at Ryalls Park Medical Centre on 14 September 2021. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.
Safe - Good
Effective - Good
Caring - Good
Responsive - Good
Well-led - Good
Following our previous inspection in March 2020, the practice was rated Requires Improvement overall and for all key questions. Two requirement notices were served for Regulation 12 Safe care and treatment and Regulation 17 Good governance, due to shortfalls in systems and processes and ensuring patients care and treatment was monitored appropriately. In addition, health and safety assessments were not being carried out; policies and procedures needed updating and reviewing to ensure they contain relevant information. At the time this inspection took place the practice was being run by a different provider. Symphony Health Services (SHS) took over the running of the practice in April 2021 and were aware of the regulatory history. SHS developed action plans to address the shortfalls and monitored progress against the plans.
The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Ryalls Park Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk
Why we carried out this inspection
This inspection was a comprehensive inspection, which included a site visit, to follow up on concerns from the previous inspection and to review compliance against the breaches to regulation
All five key questions were inspected, and clinical searches were also carried out.
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.
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 and Good for all population groups.
We found that:
- Improvements had been made to the way systems and processes were monitored to keep patients safe and protected from avoidable harm.
- Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
- Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
- Patient satisfaction for accessing services remained low. The practice had begun to implement changes to improve this including a new telephony system and increase in online access.
- 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:
- Consider reviewing their business continuity plan to include details of when CQC needs to be informed of events which may stop the service.
- Continue to engage parents and guardians to improve childhood immunisations.
- Continue to review patient satisfaction to reflect service delivery.
Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.
Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care