Archived: Red Suite

Updated 22 July 2019

• The registered provider is Red Suite. Since July 2018, another local GP practice had been supporting Red Suite with governance and management support.
• Red Suite is located at Healthy Living Centre Balmoral Gardens, Gillingham, Kent, ME7 4PN. The practice has a general medical services contract with NHS England for delivering primary care services to the local community. The practice does not have a website.
• As part of our inspection we visited Red Suite, Healthy Living Centre Balmoral Gardens, Gillingham, Kent, ME7 4PN only, where the provider delivers registered activities.
• At the time of our inspection, Red Suite did not have a registered manager in post. The person registered with CQC as their Registered Manager had left the practice. Staff told us that they were in the process of submitting the relevant application to register one of their GPs as their current Registered Manager.
• Red Suite has a registered patient population of approximately 5,000 patients. The practice is located in an area with a higher than average deprivation score.
• There are arrangements with other providers (MedOCC) to deliver services to patients outside of the practice’s working hours.
• The practice staff consists of two GP partners (both male), one salaried GP (female), one practice manager, one assistant practice manager, one complex care nurse (female), two practice nurses (both female), two healthcare assistants (both female) as well as reception and administration staff. The practice also employs locum GPs directly.
• Red Suite is registered with the Care Quality Commission to deliver the following regulated activities: diagnostic and screening procedures; family planning; maternity and midwifery services; surgical procedures; treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

Updated 22 July 2019

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Red Suite on 19 November 2018. The overall rating for the practice was Requires Improvement. The practice was rated requires improvement for providing safe, effective, responsive and well-led services as well as all patient population groups and a Requirement Notice was served in relation to breaches of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014: Regulation 17 Good governance, found at this inspection. The full comprehensive report on the November 2018 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Red Suite on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

After our inspection in November 2018 the practice wrote to us outlining how they would make the necessary improvements to comply with the Requirement Notice served.

This inspection was an announced comprehensive follow-up inspection carried out on 2 July 2019 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 19 November 2018. This report only covers findings in relation to those requirements.

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.

This practice is now rated as Good overall.

The key questions at this inspection are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Good

At this inspection we found:

• The practice’s systems, processes and practices helped keep people safe.
• Risks to patients, staff and visitors were assessed, monitored and managed in an effective manner.
• Staff had the information they needed to deliver safe care and treatment to patients.
• The arrangements for managing medicines helped keep patients safe.
• The practice learned and made improvements when things went wrong.
• Published QOF data from 2017 / 2018 showed that the practice’s performance for most indicators was below local and national averages. However, unverified data showed that performance for these indicators had significantly improved.
• Published results showed the childhood immunisation uptake rates for the vaccines given were below the target percentage of 90% or above. However, unverified data showed that the practice’s improvement actions had increased uptake rates to between 87.5% and 100%.
• Published Public Health England results showed that the practice’s performance for some cancer indicators was below local and national averages. However, unverified data showed that performance for these indicators had significantly improved.
• Staff had the skills, knowledge and experience to carry out their roles.
• Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• Patients were able to access care and treatment from the practice within an acceptable timescale for their needs. However, some patients indicated that they were not always able to get through to the practice by telephone easily and sometimes were not able to book an appointment that suited their needs.
• Where national GP patient survey results were below average the practice had taken action to address some of the findings and had improved patient satisfaction.
• The practice organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs.
• There were clear responsibilities, roles and systems of accountability to support good governance and management.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Create a practice website.
• Consider keeping records of any cleaning audits.
• Continue to monitor antibiotic and hypnotics prescribing and maintain at least in line with local and national averages.
• Continue to monitor performance for all Quality and Framework Outcomes indicators and maintain at least in line with local and national averages.
• Continue to take action to improve uptake rates for child immunisations where results are below the target percentage of 90% or above.
• Continue to implement action plans and monitor improvements to patient satisfaction scores.
• Revise governance documentation to ensure it is dated, complete and contains all relevant up to date information.
• Continue with the application process to register a Registered Manager with the Care Quality Commission.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care

Please refer to the detailed report and the evidence tables for further information.

Updated 22 July 2019

Updated 22 July 2019

Updated 22 July 2019

Updated 22 July 2019

Updated 22 July 2019

Updated 22 July 2019