Archived: Collingwood Road Surgery Also known as The Collingwood Surgery

Updated 4 June 2015

Collingwood Road Surgery is located on Collingwood Road close to the centre of Witham. The practice provides services for approximately 1,725 patients living in and around the Witham area of Essex. The practice holds a GMS contract.

Staff members at the practice include one male and one female GP partner, a practice nurse, a phlebotomist/receptionist, a medical secretary, two reception staff, and a practice manager who supports the practice GPs. A phlebotomist is a specialist clinical support worker who takes blood samples from patients for testing in laboratories.

Patients may contact the practice reception by telephone from 8:30am and 6pm Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Additionally the practice reception is open from 7am to 8am Wednesdays, and 6.30pm to 7.30pm Fridays, on alternate weeks. The practice is closed on Thursdays from 1pm; however on Thursday afternoons patients may telephone the GP directly. Appointments are available between 9am to 12pm and from 4.30pm to 6pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. It is open for appointments from 9am to 12pm on Thursdays and is closed Thursday afternoon from 1pm after which time patients may contact the GP directly. The practice has extended opening hours for appointments on Wednesday mornings between 7am to 8am and on Friday evenings between 6.30pm to 7.30pm on alternate weeks.

The Collingwood Road Surgery has opted out of providing out-of-hours services weekends, bank holidays, and after 6.30pm weekdays (when out-of-hours service takes over patient care). These services are provided by a local out-of-hours service provider ‘Primecare’ and details of how to contact the services were available within the practice and in the recorded telephone message when patients rang the surgery outside normal working hours.

Updated 4 June 2015

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Collingwood Road Surgery on 18 March 2015. Overall the practice was rated as good.

Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing safe, effective, caring, responsive, and well-led, services. It was also good for providing services for the older people, people with long-term conditions, families, children and young people, working age people (including those recently retired and students), people living in vulnerable circumstances, and people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia).

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

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and to report incidents and near misses. Information about safety was recorded, monitored, appropriately reviewed, addressed and shared with staff during meetings.

• Risks to patients were identified, assessed, and well managed.

• Patients’ requirements were evaluated and care was designed and provided following best practice guidance.

• Staff had received training suitable to their roles and any further training needs had been recognised and planned for.

• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were included in the care and decisions made about their treatment.

• Information about services and how to complain was readily available and easy to understand. Complaints were investigated and responded to appropriately.

• The practice had suitable facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.

• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The practice

proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.

Importantly the provider should:

• Implement formal risk assessment procedures to assess which staff may require a criminal records check.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 4 June 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people with long-term conditions. The nurse at the practice provided health promotion, asthma, diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease clinics for patients in this population group. Longer nurse and GP appointments and home visits were also available when needed. The practice maintained disease registers for patients with long-term conditions to ensure management and review of patients was optimal. Patients in this population group had a named GP, care plan, and many were also on the fragility register. All these patients had a structured review to check 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 more multidisciplinary package of care.

The practice had specific emergency processes and referrals in place for patients with long-term conditions who experienced a sudden deterioration in their condition.

Updated 4 June 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of families, children and young people. There were processes 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 extremely high for all standard childhood immunisations in comparable data for the local practices. Appointments were available outside of school hours and the premises were suitable for children and babies. The practice had baby changing facilities and offered full antenatal and postnatal care. They had weekly appointments available in the surgery with the midwife and had developed a good working relationship with them. Baby checks and all childhood immunisations were provided.

Information and advice on sexual health and contraception was provided during GP and nurse appointments.

Updated 4 June 2015

This practice is rated as good for the care of older people. Patients over the age of 75 had a named GP to ensure they were offered proactive, personalised care to meet their individual needs. Longer appointments were available for this population group.

The practice provided home visits to frail or housebound patients. Each month they held a fragility meeting; these involved the wider practice team including the Community Matron, District Nurses, and social workers.

Data the CQC held showed the uptake of flu vaccination for this population group at the practice was slightly above average compared with other practices nationally.

Updated 4 June 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. Appointments could be booked in person, by telephone or online. Appointments could be booked up to eight weeks in advance and on alternating weeks from 7am to 8am on Wednesdays and until 7.30pm on Fridays. These appointments were particularly useful to patients who were unable to attend during the working day.

The practice was proactive in offering a range of health promotion and screening that reflected the needs for this age group. For example there were nurse clinics held for general health checks, and travel vaccination and advice.

Updated 4 June 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia). People experiencing poor mental health at the practice had received an annual physical health check. The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams to implement new care pathways and share care. They worked with specialist teams in the case management of people experiencing poor mental health, including those with dementia.

The practice maintained a register of people experiencing poor mental health. The register supported clinical staff to offer patients an annual appointment for a health check and a medication review. The practice referred patients to appropriate services such as psychiatry and counselling services and improving access to psychological therapies (IAPT). IAPT is a programme to improve access to talking therapies in the NHS by providing more local services and psychological therapists. Referrals were made to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAHMS) to support younger patients.

The GPs worked closely with the Community Mental Health Team (CMHT) nurse and made combined visits to patients when necessary. CMHT support people living in the community who have complex or serious mental health problems.

The practice had told patients experiencing poor mental health about how to access various support groups and voluntary organisations including MIND. It had a system in place to follow up patients who had attended accident and emergency (A&E) where they may have been experiencing poor mental health.

Updated 4 June 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 people with a learning disability and they had received a follow-up when needed. They also offered longer appointments for people with a learning disability.

The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of vulnerable people. The practice signposted and provided support to patients to access support groups and voluntary organisations. Staff knew how to recognise signs of abuse in vulnerable adults and children. The practice told us they knew their patients within this population group well.

Staff were aware of their responsibilities regarding information sharing and documentation of safeguarding concerns. They knew who to contact in normal working hours and how to contact relevant agencies when out of hours.