Updated 17 October 2018
White Horse Health Centre is a GP practice located on the outskirts of Westbury in Wiltshire and has about 22,100 patients registered. It is managed by The Westbury Group Practice and is one of 47 practices serving the NHS Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) area. The practice is registered to provide the following regulated activities:
- Diagnostic and screening procedures;
- Family planning;
- Maternity and midwifery services;
- Surgical procedures;
- Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.
The practice also runs a dental service under the same registration with the Care Quality Commission, although they operate as a separate service. We carried out an inspection of the dental service at the same time as this inspection and the report of the dental inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for White Horse Health Centre on our website at . This report covers our inspection of the GP practice.
The practice occupies a purpose-built building with patient services located on the ground and first floors. There are 12 consulting rooms and two treatment rooms. There are automatic front doors, a lift to the first floor, a toilet suitable for patients with a disability and a check-in screen which included languages other than English. The waiting areas on the ground and first floors are shared with a number of other medical services that operate from the same building.
White Horse Health Centre has a branch surgery in the village of Bratton, about three miles away, which has a dispensary able to offer dispensing services to those patients on the practice list who lived more than one mile (1.6km) from their nearest pharmacy.
The practice provides a number of services and clinics for its patients, including childhood immunisations, family planning, minor surgery, and a range of health lifestyle management and advice services, including asthma management, diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure management.
Data available shows a measure of deprivation in the local area recorded a score of 7, on a scale of 1-10, where a higher score indicates a less deprived area. (Note that the circumstances and lifestyles of the people living in an area affect its deprivation score. Not everyone living in a deprived area is deprived and not all deprived people live in deprived areas). The area the practice serves is urban and rural, and has relatively low numbers of patients from different cultural backgrounds. 98% of the practice population describes itself as white British. Average male and female life expectancy for patients at the practice is 80 years and 84 years respectively, which is similar to the Wiltshire average and in line with the national average of 79 and 83 years respectively. The practice has a higher than average number of patients reporting deafness or severe hearing impairment; 7% compared to a national and Wiltshire average of 4%.
There are five GP partners and seven salaried GPs making a full-time equivalent of nine GPs. There are 18 nurses, whose number includes five Advanced Nurse Practitioners and one research nurse; a paramedic, a pharmacist, six health care assistants and a phlebotomist. These clinical staff are supported by a management team of four people lead by the practice manager, and a reception and administrative team of 36 staff, four prescription dispensers and six cleaning staff.
White Horse Health Centre is a teaching and training practice providing placements for GP registrars and medical students.
The practice is open from 8 am to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday. Appointments with a GP are 8.10am to 11.50am and 2.40pm to 6.10pm, Monday to Friday. The practice offers extended hours appointments in line with their service contract with the Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group. These are 7.30 to 8am on Tuesday, 6.30 to 8pm on Wednesday and Thursday, and 8am to 10.30am on alternate Saturdays.
The practice has opted out of providing a full Out of Hours service to its own patients. Patients can access an Out of Hours GP service by calling NHS 111. Information about how to contact the out of hours service was available in the waiting area and on the practice website.
The practice has a Primary Medical Services (PMS) contract to deliver health care services. A PMS contract is a locally agreed alternative to the standard General Medical Services contract used when services are agreed locally with a practice which may include additional services beyond the standard contract.
The practice provides services from the following sites:
- White Horse Health Centre, Mane Way, Westbury, Wiltshire, BA13 3FQ.
- Bratton Surgery, The Tynings, Bratton, Wiltshire, BA13 4RR.
The practice has a website containing further information. It can be found here:
www.westburygp.co.uk