Bungay Medical Practice

Updated 26 November 2018

• The name of the registered provider is Dr Castle and Partners, Sole Bay Health Centre.
• The practice is registered to provide diagnostic and screening procedures, family planning, maternity and midwifery services and treatment of disease, disorder or injury.
• Bungay Medical Practice provides services to approximately 11,000 patients in a semi-rural area in Suffolk. In January 2018, Dr Castle and Partners, Sole Bay Health Centre became the provider of services for Bungay Medical Practice. Dr Castle and Partners, Sole Bay Health Centre is the provider for two GP practices, including Bungay Medical Practice and employs all staff at the practice.
• The practice has two male GP partners and six female salaried GPs. There is practice manager support from the provider and an assistant practice manager on site. The practice employs three practice nurses, two nurse practitioners and two advanced nurse practitioners, one of whom is also the nurse manager. The practice also employs four health care assistants and a community matron. Other staff includes a team of administration and reception staff and four dispensers.
• The practice holds a General Medical Services contract with NHS England. The practice is able to offer dispensing services to those patients on the practice list who live more than one mile (1.6km) from their nearest pharmacy. We visited the dispensary as part of this inspection.
• Bungay Medical Practice is a training practice for GP trainees (qualified doctors who are undertaking training to become GPs) and nurse students.
• The practice is open between 8am and 6.30pm Monday to Friday. Extended hours appointments are available between 7am and 8am on Mondays and between 6.50pm and 8.20pm on Thursdays. Appointments can be booked up to three weeks in advance for extended hours appointments only and GPs booked follow ups as required. Urgent appointments are available for people that need them, as well as telephone appointments. Online appointments are available to book up to one month in advance.
• When the practice is closed patients are automatically diverted to the GP out of hours service provided by Integrated Care 24. Patients can also access advice via the NHS 111 service.
• We reviewed the most recent data available to us from Public Health England which showed the practice has a smaller number of patients aged 20 to 39 years old compared with the national average. It has a larger number of patients aged 60 to 84 compared to the national average.
• Income deprivation affecting children is 15%, which is lower than the CCG average of 26% and national average of 20%. Income deprivation affecting older people is 12%, which is lower than the CCG average of 17% and national average of 16%. Life expectancy for patients at the practice is 80 years for males and 84 years for females; this is comparable to the CCG and England expectancy which is 80 years and 83 years.

Updated 26 November 2018

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Bungay Medical Practice on 5 November 2018 as part of our inspection programme. The current provider, Dr Castle and Partners, became the provider with the support of the Clinical Commissioning Group on 1 January 2018. The practice was then inspected in February 2018 and not rated due to there being insufficient evidence to rate all key questions. This was because the service had recently been configured and data available related to the previous provider.

Our inspection team was led by a CQC inspector and included a GP specialist advisor and a second CQC inspector.

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.

We have rated this practice as good overall.

This means that:

• People were protected from avoidable harm and abuse and that legal requirements were met.
• The provider had a detailed action plan in place to address shortfalls within the practice and had implemented several changes such as an overhaul of the management of repeat prescriptions.
• Patients had good outcomes because they received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• The practice was fully engaged with reviewing, monitoring and auditing the clinical service they offered and used this information to make changes and drive care.
• Patients were supported, treated with dignity and respect and were involved as partners in their care.
• People’s needs were met by the way in which services were organised and delivered. For example, the practice had a community matron who was able to assess recent discharges from hospital, complete home visits and address social issues to reduce admissions to hospital.
• The leadership, governance and culture of the practice promoted the delivery of high quality person-centred care.
• The practice were continually reviewing documents and protocols to update them. We found some protocols and documents that had not been fully updated to reflect the current provider and a standard operating procedure that did not contain all the relevant information. The provider reported this would be addressed immediately.
• Staff reported they were happy to work in the practice and proud of the changes that had been made.

Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:

• Continue to review documents and protocols to ensure they are specific to the new provider.
• Review and update the standard operating procedure for ensuring medicines are appropriate for use in dosage systems.
• Review the system for responding to complaints to ensure onward referral details for other agencies are available, for example details for the ombudsmen.

Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.

Updated 26 November 2018

Updated 26 November 2018

Updated 26 November 2018

Updated 26 November 2018

Updated 26 November 2018

Updated 26 November 2018