Goldington Avenue Surgery

We carried out an announced focused inspection at Goldington Avenue Surgery on 2 December 2019. We carried out an inspection of this service following our annual review of the information available to us including information provided by the practice. Our review indicated that there may have been a significant change to the quality of care provided since the last inspection.

This inspection focused on the following key questions: safe, effective, responsive and well-led.

Because of the assurance received from our review of information we carried forward the ratings for the following key questions: Responsive and caring.

At the last inspection in June 2015 we rated the practice as good overall.

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.

The practice is rated as good overall.

This means that:

• People who used the service were protected from avoidable harm and abuse, and legal requirements were met.
• The practice had systems in place to manage patient safety alerts.
• We saw evidence that the practice ensured appropriate blood testing for medicines that required additional monitoring.
• Patients had good outcomes because they received effective care and treatment that met their needs.

• The practice had led on changes within the locality to improve identification and communication between services for patients with a learning disability.

• The practice had systems in place to ensure staff had the training and knowledge needed for their role. The practice completed regular appraisals and staff told us they felt supported and proud to work at the practice.

• Patients were supported, treated with dignity and respect and were involved as partners in their care.
• Patients told us they were pleased with the level of care and concerns showed by all staff.
• Patients’ needs were met by the way in which services were organised and delivered.
• The leadership, governance and culture of the practice promoted the delivery of high quality person-centred care.
• The practice had an ethos of innovation and was involved in clinical audit and pilot schemes.
• The practice had high exeption reporting in patients with mental health conditions. (Exception reporting is the removal of patients from QOF calculations where, for example, the patients decline or do not respond to invitations to attend a review of their condition or when a medicine is not appropriate.)

We saw one area of outstanding practice:

• The practice had identified technology to screen for atrial fibrillation, a heart condition that increased the risk of stroke. This had been implemented in six other local practices. The practice had diagnosed 14 patients with atrial fibrillation and the locality had diagnosed 48 patients. Early diagnosis will improve patient outcomes in this area.

There were areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Ensure meeting minutes are thorough and detailed.
• Ensure fridge temperatures that support the cold-chain are monitored appropriately.
• Continue to monitor and improve exception reporting for patients with a mental health condition.

Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BS BM BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care