Archived: Mulberry Surgery

Updated 22 July 2016

Mulberry Surgery is located in a converted private house on the outskirts of Southampton and provides care and treatment to approximately 3100 patients living in and around the Highfield area of Southampton. The practice also has a branch practice, St Denys Surgery, St Denys Road, Southampton. At this inspection we did not visit the branch practice, no risks or concerns at the branch had been identified prior to or during this inspection.

The Mulberry surgery staff team consists of two GP partners, one female and one male, who are supported by a nursing team of two practice nurses and one health care assistant. There is a management team of five receptionists, a medical secretary and administrator and a practice manager that covers both sites. The practice has a General Medical Services contract with NHS England for delivering primary care services to local communities.

Opening Times: The practice is open from 8am until 6.30pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and from 8am until 12pm on Wednesdays. On Wednesday afternoons any emergencies are covered by St Denys Surgery.

The practice offers a range of appointment types such as same day, book one day in advance, book one week in advance and book two weeks in advance. The purpose of the different appointment types is to ensure there are sufficient appointments available to book at any one time so that entire surgeries are not fully booked weeks in advance.

To obtain an appointment patients telephone, attend the practice or alternatively if they have registered to do so book and cancel appointments online.

The practice is able to offer some surgeries outside of the above hours for those who find it difficult to attend for routine problems due to their working hours or other commitments; on some Monday and Thursday evenings and some Saturday mornings on a rota basis. Patients are asked to speak with the receptionist to find out more information of times and dates.

The practice has opted out of providing out-of-hours services to their own patients. Out of hours cover is provided by Hants Doc via the NHS 111 service.

Updated 22 July 2016

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced focussed inspection of Mulberry Surgery on 16 June 2016 to check that action had been taken since our previous inspection in April 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

At our inspection in April 2015 we rated the practice as good overall. We found that the practice required improvement in the Safe domain due to breaches of regulations relating to safe delivery of services. The practice was good for Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well Led services.

We undertook this focused inspection to check that they had followed their plan and to confirm that they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to those requirements. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Mulberry Surgery on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

The provider had made improvements to:

• Ensure a legionella risk assessment was carried out and action was taken.

• Ensure that emergency fire procedures were updated.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 24 September 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people with long-term conditions. Nursing staff had lead roles in chronic disease management and patients at risk of hospital admission were identified as a priority. Longer appointments and home visits were available when needed. All these patients had a named GP and a structured annual review to check that their health and medication 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 24 September 2015

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 A&E attendances. Immunisation rates were relatively high for all standard childhood immunisations. 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. Appointments were available outside of school hours and the premises were suitable for children and babies. We saw good examples of joint working with midwives and health visitors.

Updated 24 September 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of older people. Nationally reported data showed that outcomes for patients were good for conditions commonly found in older people. The practice offered proactive, personalised care to meet the needs of the older people in its population and had a range of enhanced services, for example, in dementia and end of life care. It was responsive to the needs of older people, and offered home visits and rapid access appointments for those with enhanced needs.

Updated 24 September 2015

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 24 September 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia). 100% of patients experiencing poor mental health had received an annual physical health check. The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of patients experiencing poor mental health, including those with dementia. It 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. Staff had received training on how to care for patients with mental health needs and dementia.

Updated 24 September 2015

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. It had carried out annual health checks for patients with a learning disability and 50% of these patients had received a follow-up. It offered longer appointments for patients with a learning disability and was encouraging patients to have annual health checks.

The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of vulnerable people. It had told 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.