Dr Christopher Cole and Partners Also known as The Red and Green Practice

Updated 7 January 2022

Dr Christopher Cole and Partners, also known as The Red and Green Practice is located at Waterside Health Centre, Beaulieu Road, Hythe, Southampton, Hampshire SO45 5WX. There is a pharmacy attached to, but not operated by, the practice. There is a branch site located at Blackfield Health Centre, Hampton Lane, Blackfield, Hampshire SO45 1XA.

The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the following Regulated Activities from both sites:

• Diagnostic and screening procedures
• Family planning
• Maternity and midwifery services
• Surgical procedures
• Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

Dr Christopher Cole and Partners is situated within the West Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and provides services to approximately 23,145 patients under the terms of a general medical services (GMS) contract. This is a contract between general practices and NHS England for delivering services to the local community.

The provider is a partnership of 11 GP partners who registered with the CQC in February 2013. The practice also employs three salaried GPs, three advanced nurse practitioners, seven practice nurses, two health care assistants, and a dedicated phlebotomy team. The management team comprises of a business practice manager, an operations manager, a nurse manager, and an information management and technology manager who support and oversee a team of receptionists, administrators, medical secretaries and personal assistants.

The practice is part of a Primary Care Network with two other local practices.

There are higher than the local and national average number of patients over the age of 65 years, and fewer patients under the age of 18 years than the national average. The National General Practice Profile states that approximately 98% of the practice population is from a white background with the remaining 2% of the population originating from black, mixed or other non-white ethnic groups. Information published by Public Health England, rates the level of deprivation within the practice population group as seven, on a scale of one to ten. Level one represents the highest levels of deprivation and level ten the lowest. Male life expectancy is 81 years compared to the national average of 79 years. Female life expectancy is 85 years compared to the national average of 83 years.

Updated 7 January 2022

We carried out an announced inspection at Dr Christopher Cole and Partners on 1 December 2021. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.

Set out the ratings for each key question

Safe - Good

Effective - Good

Caring - Good

Responsive - Good

Well-led - Good

Following our previous review on 2 October 2020, the practice was rated Good overall and for all key questions.

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Dr Christopher Cole and Partners on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection

This inspection was a comprehensive inspection to follow up on areas of risk identified through our monitoring program.

How we carried out the inspection/review

Throughout the pandemic CQC has continued to regulate and respond to risk. However, taking into account the circumstances arising as a result of the pandemic, and in order to reduce risk, we have conducted our inspections differently.

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site. This was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements.

This included:

• Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing
• Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system and discussing findings with the provider
• Reviewing patient records to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider
• Requesting evidence from the provider
• A short site visit

Our findings

We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service 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.

We have rated this practice as Good overall

We found that:

• To meet the patient need for same day care, the practice had set up an urgent care centre (UCC), which provided five minute appointments 8.30am to 6.30pm five days a week.
• The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• The practice adjusted how it delivered services to meet the needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.
• The practice had set up a charity ‘Friends of Red and Green’ and raised money for a community garden at the back of the practice.
• The wellbeing of staff was supported by the practice. There was a wellbeing group where staff were able to access activities such as mindfulness.

Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:

• Consider the need to have leaflets available in the waiting room in other languages or easy read format.
• Review call data and use the data to determine any actions which could improve telephone access for patients.
• Improve the regularity of nursing and administrative staff meetings.
• Reinstate the patient participation group (PPG) and work to improve GP engagement with the group.
• Ensure the infection control audit is completed annually including the next planned date of January 2022.
• Add non-medical prescribers to the schedule of prescribing audits.
• Continue to work to improve the uptake of cervical screening.
• Ensure basic life support training is completed annually for all staff, whether face to face or online.
• Make sure annual appraisals of nursing staff are kept up to date and complete those scheduled for January 2022.
• Carry out the planned patient feedback survey.

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

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care