Park Avenue Medical Centre - Care Quality Commission

Background to this inspection

Updated 8 June 2017

Park Avenue Medical Centre is located in an urban area in the north of Northampton close to Spinney Hill. It is approximately 2.5 miles from Northampton Town Centre.

There is direct access to the practice by public transport and limited parking is also available on site. Public parking is also available on the street within the vicinity of the practice. The practice had recently undergone extensive renovations to modernise the existing building used. This included a redesign of the reception area, new flooring and improvements in entrance access and treatment areas.

The practice currently has a list size of approximately 10,074 patients.

The practice holds a General Medical Services (GMS) contract which is a nationally agreed contract between NHS England and GP Practices to deliver care to the public. The practice provides GP services commissioned by NHS Nene CCG. (A CCG is an organisation that brings together local GP’s and experienced health professionals to take on commissioning responsibilities for local health services). The practice is situated in an area with average levels of deprivation. It has a higher than national average older adult population who have reached retirement age. A lower number of those registered at the practice, 52% are in paid work or full time education compared with the CCG average (64%).

The practice is currently managed by four GPs (two male, two female). One works on a full time basis, and three work part time. The practice also has two salaried GPs (male and female) who work on a full time basis. They are supported by further clinical staff; one female part time nurse practitioner, two female part time practice nurses and three female health care assistants (one full time, two part time). The practice also employs a practice manager and a team of reception, clerical and administrative staff.

The practice is a training practice for trainee GPs. One trainee doctor had recently completed their time at the practice and at the time of our inspection, there were no other trainee doctors currently working there.

The practice is open Mondays to Fridays from 8am to 6.30pm. Appointments are available Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 8.30am to 6.30pm. On Tuesdays appointments are available from 7.30am. The practice also opens on one Saturday each month.

The practice has opted out of providing GP services to patients out of hours such as nights and weekends (except for one monthly Saturday clinic). During these times GP services are currently provided by South East Health. When the practice is closed, there is a recorded message giving out of hours details.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 8 June 2017

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Park Avenue Medical Centre on 4 July 2016. The overall rating for the practice was requires improvement due to breaches of legal requirements. After the comprehensive inspection, the practice wrote to us and submitted an action plan outlining the actions they would take to meet legal requirements in relation to:

Regulation 12 (RA) Regulations 2014, safe care and treatment.
Regulation 17 HSCA (RA) Regulations 2014, good governance.

The full comprehensive report of the inspection on 4 July 2016 can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Park Avenue Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk .

This inspection was a focused follow up inspection carried out on 18 April 2017 to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breach in regulation that we identified in our previous inspection on 4 July 2016. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements and also additional improvements made since our last inspection.

Overall the practice is now rated as ‘Good’.

From the inspection on 4 July 2016, the practice was told they must:

Ensure arrangements were in place for identifying, assessing and mitigating risk in relation to non-clinical staff undertaking chaperone duties. This included risk assessment of whether DBS checks were required.
Implement a system to ensure patients prescribed with high risk medicines were monitored appropriately.
Ensure a Legionella risk assessment was undertaken and arrangements were in place to identify, assess and manage all risks associated with the premises.

We also told the practice that they should make improvements to the follows areas:

Review how significant events and incidents were identified, documented and learning was shared.
Continue to monitor Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) exception reporting to ensure clinical effectiveness.
Review the arrangements for making contact with bereaved families to offer appropriate support.

Our key findings were as follows:

Systems were in place for identifying, assessing and mitigating risk in relation to non-clinical staff undertaking chaperone duties. Non clinical staff that undertook chaperone duties had been checked through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and trained for this role.
The practice had made the necessary changes to their procedures for managing high risk medicines. Patients prescribed with high risk medicines were now monitored appropriately.
The practice confirmed that following a Legionella risk assessment by an external agency arrangements were in place to manage the risks associated with the premises.
The arrangements for reporting significant events and incidents had been strengthened with specific improvements made to the system for identification documentation and sharing of learning points.
A protocol was in place to monitor and manage the exception reporting process in relation to the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF).
A protocol was in place to ensure contact with bereaved families to offer appropriate support.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)

Chief Inspector of General Practice