Archived: Richmond Road Surgery

Updated 22 September 2017

Richmond Road Surgery is located on the outskirts of Sheffield with a branch surgery at Darnall Health Centre in Sheffield, S9 5DH. The practice provides services for 3,407 patients under the terms of the NHS Personal Medical Services contract. The practice catchment area is classed as within the group of the most deprived areas in England. The age profile of the practice population is similar to other GP practices in the local area.

The practice has one male GP, a practice nurse, a healthcare assistant, a practice manager and a team of reception and administrative staff. The Richmond Road site is open between 8am to 12 noon and 3pm to 6pm weekdays apart from Thursdays when it closes at 12 noon. Telephone calls to the branch between 12 noon to 3pm and on Thursday afternoons are answered at the Darnall Health Centre. Appointments are available with GPs between 9am to 11am and 3pm to 5pm daily with the exception of Thursday afternoon. Pre-booked appointments with GPs are offered every Monday evening at the Darnall site from 5.40pm to 7.40pm. Appointments with the practice nurse are available every week day apart from Fridays and with the healthcare assistant every weekday morning. In addition to pre-bookable appointments that could be booked up to six weeks in advance, urgent appointments were also available for people that needed them. A phlebotomy service with the healthcare assistant is available daily.

When the practice is closed calls were answered by the out-of-hours service which is accessed via the surgery telephone number or by calling the NHS 111 service. The Richmond Road site is located in a converted residential building with all patient facilities on the ground floor and the Darnall site is a purpose build health centre with accessible facilities. There are a number of parking spaces to the front of both sites and designated disabled parking spaces.

Updated 22 September 2017

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Richmond Road Surgery on 6 December 2016. The overall rating for the practice was good with requires improvement for being well-led. The full comprehensive report from December 2016 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Richmond Road Surgery on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This inspection was a desk based review carried out on 18 July 2017 to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches in regulations that we identified in our previous inspection on 6 December 2016. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements and also additional improvements made since our last inspection.

Overall the practice is rated as good.

Our key findings were as follows:

• The provider submitted to the Commission further evidence as part of this inspection to support improvements undertaken to the governance framework and the delivery of good quality care. For example, drafting and implementation of a note summarising and data entry protocol and a test results protocol.
• The provider had commenced some clinical audits and reviews of patients outcomes to contribute to a programme of continuous quality assurance. We saw, from minutes of clinical practice meetings in May, June and August 2017, audits were discussed with staff.
• The provider had drafted and implemented an exception reporting protocol to ensure those patients who did not attend for a review, or where a medication cannot be prescribed due to a contraindication or side-effect were consistently managed.
• The practice had recently gathered feedback from patients through the patient participation group (PPG) and through a survey to consult with patients about moving all of the services to one site.
• Patient satisfaction with GP consultations had improved in the most recent (July 2017) National GP patient survey.

However, there is one area of practice where the provider should make improvement:

• The provider should review the clinical audit templates, used to capture all of the evidence, and include reference to the relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) best practice guidelines as appropriate.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 6 February 2017

The practice is rated as good for the care of people with long-term conditions.

• Practice nursing staff had lead roles in long term condition management and patients at risk of hospital admission were identified as a priority.
• Performance for diabetes related indicators was 2% below the CCG average and comparable to the national average.
• Longer appointments and home visits were available when needed.
• All these patients had a named GP and a structured annual review to check their health and medicines needs were being met. For those patients with the most complex needs, the named GP worked with relevant health and care professionals to deliver a multidisciplinary package of care.

Updated 6 February 2017

The practice is rated as good for the care of families, children and young people.

• There were systems in place to identify and follow up children living in disadvantaged circumstances and who were at risk, for example, children and young people who had a high number of accident and emergency attendances. Immunisation rates were lower for some childhood immunisations due to a practice nurse vacancy.
• Patients told us that children and young people were treated in an age-appropriate way and were recognised as individuals, and we saw evidence to confirm this.
• The practice’s uptake for the cervical screening programme was 80%, which was 8% below the CCG average and 1% below the national average.
• Appointments were available outside of school hours and the premises were suitable for children and babies.
• We saw positive examples of joint working with midwives, health visitors and school nurses.

Updated 6 February 2017

The practice is rated as good for the care of older people.

• The practice offered proactive, personalised care to meet the needs of the older people in its population.
• The practice was responsive to the needs of older people, and offered home visits and urgent appointments for those with enhanced needs.

Updated 6 February 2017

The practice is rated as good for the care of working-age people (including those recently retired and students).

• The needs of the working age population, those recently retired and students had been identified and the practice had adjusted the services it offered to ensure these were accessible, flexible and offered continuity of care.
• The practice was proactive in offering online services as well as a full range of health promotion and screening that reflects the needs for this age group.

Updated 6 February 2017

The practice is rated as good for the care of people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia).

• 94% of patients diagnosed with dementia had had their care reviewed in a face to face meeting in the last 12 months, which is above the national average of 84%.
• 94% of patients diagnosed with poor mental health had an agreed care plan in place in the last 12 months, which is above the national average of 88%
• .A counsellor held clinics at the practice offering talking therapies to patients. Staff told us the service was popular with patients particularly to assist them to make healthy life choices.
• The practice regularly worked with multidisciplinary teams in the case management of patients experiencing poor mental health, including those with dementia.
• The practice carried out advance care planning for patients with dementia.
• The practice had told patients experiencing poor mental health about how to access various support groups and voluntary organisations.
• The practice had a system in place to follow up patients who had attended accident and emergency where they may have been experiencing poor mental health.
• Staff had a good understanding of how to support patients with mental health needs and dementia.

Updated 6 February 2017

The practice is rated as good for the care of people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable.

• The practice held a register of patients living in vulnerable circumstances including those with a learning disability.
• The practice offered longer appointments for patients with a learning disability.
• The practice regularly worked with other health care professionals in the case management of vulnerable patients.
• The practice informed vulnerable patients about how to access various support groups and voluntary organisations.
• Staff knew how to recognise signs of abuse in vulnerable adults and children. Staff were aware of their responsibilities regarding information sharing, documentation of safeguarding concerns and how to contact relevant agencies in normal working hours and out of hours.