Background to this inspection
Updated
24 January 2020
Barton Hills Medical Group provides a range of primary medical services to the residents of Luton from its location of Whitehorse Vale, Barton Hills, Luton, Bedfordshire, LU3 4AD.
The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening procedures, family planning, maternity and midwifery services, surgical procedures and treatment of disease, disorder or injury.
Barton Hills Medical Group is situated within the Luton Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and provides services to approximately 7,860 patients under the terms of a general medical services (GMS) contract. A GMS contract is a nationally agreed contract between general practices and NHS England for delivering general medical services to local communities.
The practice has two male and one female GP partners. The nursing team consists of a nurse practitioner, a practice nurse and two healthcare assistants, all female. There are a team of administration and reception staff who are led by a practice manager and an assistant practice manager.
Barton Hills Medical Group is a training practice which provides support and mentorship to doctors training to be GPs.
The practice population has an average age range. The National General Practice Profile states that 70% of the practice population is from a white background, 17% from an Asian background with a further 12% of the population originating from black, mixed or other non-white ethnic groups. Information published by Public Health England, rates the level of deprivation within the practice population group as seven, on a scale of one to ten. Level one represents the highest levels of deprivation and level ten the lowest.
The practice is open from 8am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday.
When the practice is closed out of hours services are provided by Herts Urgent Care and can be accessed via the NHS 111 service.
Routine appointments with a GP, practice nurse or health care assistant can also be booked through the practice for the Luton Extended Hours Service. This service operates on Monday to Friday evenings from 6pm to 9pm and on Saturdays and Sundays from 8.30am to 2.30pm.
Updated
24 January 2020
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Barton Hills Medical Group on 14 November 2019 as part of our inspection programme.
We decided to undertake an inspection of this service following our annual review of the information available to us. This inspection looked at the following key questions:
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:
- Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs. Treatment templates were used to ensure current guidance was followed.
- A register was kept of patients in need of end of life care. A review of the register showed that some of the patients were not at the end of life stage of their illness.
- Data showed the practice was performing comparably with others both locally and nationally. Exception reporting was high for one area of the Quality Outcomes Framework (QOF).
- The uptake for cervical screening was below the national target of 80%
- The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.
- The practice was aware of the challenges it faced and had business plans in place to address these.
- Staff were well supported and were positive about working in the practice.
- The process for managing safety alerts was not formalised. This was immediately rectified at the time of the inspection.
Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:
- Continue to encourage the uptake of cervical screening for eligible women.
- Review the register of patients in need of end of life care to ensure it was appropriate.
- Review exception reporting processes so patients receive appropriate reviews and monitoring.
- Review the process put in place to manage safety alerts to ensure it is embedded and appropriate actions taken.
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