Ringmead Medical Group

Background to this inspection

Updated 6 April 2017

Ringmead Medical Practice is situated in Bracknell, Berkshire within a purpose built premises (main practice and the branch practice) with car parking for patients and staff. All patient services are offered on the ground floor at both locations. The practice comprises of 10 consulting rooms, a treatment room, a patient waiting area, a reception area, administrative and management office at the main premises (Birch Hill Medical Centre). The practice comprises of five consulting rooms, a patient waiting area, a reception area and administrative office at the branch practice (Great Hollands Health Centre).

The practice has core opening hours from 8am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday. The practice offers a range of scheduled appointments to patients every weekday from 8.10am to 6.10pm including open access appointments with a duty GP throughout the day. The practice offers extended hours appointments on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings from 7.30am to 8am, and evenings from 6.30pm to 8pm at the premises. In addition, the practice offers extended hours appointments on Monday to Friday from 6.30pm to 8pm and Saturday from 8am to 2pm provided by Berkshire Primary Care Ltd based at Boundary House Surgery (funded by the clinical commissioning group as part of federation arrangements).

The practice has a patient population of approximately 15,700 registered patients. The practice population of patients aged between 5 to 19, 30 to 39 and 65 to 69 years old is higher than the national average and there are lower number of patients aged between 20 to 29, 45 to 59 and aged above 70 years old compared to national average.

Ethnicity based on demographics collected in the 2011 census shows the patient population is predominantly White British and 9% of the population is composed of patients with an Asian, Black or mixed background. The practice is located in a part of Bracknell with the lowest levels of income deprivation in the area.

There are six GP partners, a salaried GP and three locum GPs at the practice. Nine GPs are male and one female. The practice employs a practice nurse manager, two practice nurses and two health care assistants. The practice manager is supported by an assistant practice manager, a patient services manager, a team of administrative and reception staff. Services are provided via a General Medical Services (GMS) contract (GMS contracts are negotiated nationally between GP representatives and the NHS).

The practice is providing short term placements to medical students (FY2s) who have access to a senior GP throughout the day for support.

Services are provided from the following main location and the branch practice, and patients can attend any of the two practice premises. We visited both premises during this inspection.

Birch Hill Medical Centre (the main practice)

Birch Hill

Leppington

Bracknell

Berkshire

RG12 7WW

Great Hollands Health Centre (the branch practice)

Great Hollands Square

Bracknell

RG12 8WY

The practice has opted out of providing out of hours services to their patients. There are arrangements in place for services to be provided when the practice is closed and these are displayed at the practice, in the practice information leaflet and on the patient website. Out of hours services are provided during protected learning time by East Berkshire Primary Care service or after 6:30pm, weekends and bank holidays by calling NHS 111.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 6 April 2017

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

Our previous comprehensive inspection at Ringmead Medical Practice on 12 August 2016 found breaches of regulations relating to the safe and well-led delivery of services. The overall rating for the practice was requires improvement. Specifically, we found the practice to require improvement for provision of safe and well led services. It was good for providing effective, caring and responsive services. Consequently we rated all population groups as requires improvement. The full comprehensive report on the August 2016 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Ringmead Medical Practice on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This inspection was an announced focused inspection carried out on 8 March 2017 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 12 August 2016. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements and improvements made since our last inspection.

We found the practice had made improvements since our last inspection. At our inspection on the 8 March 2017 we found the practice was meeting the regulations that had previously been breached. We have amended the rating for this practice to reflect these changes. The practice is now rated good for the provision of safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led services. Overall the practice is now rated as good. Consequently we have rated all population groups as good.

Our key findings were as follows:

The practice had demonstrated significant improvements in governance arrangements.
Blank prescription printer forms were kept securely and tracked through the practice.
We found management of legionella and medicines management had been improved.
The practice had demonstrated improvements in patients’ outcomes for patients with dementia.
For example, the practice had carried out dementia face to face reviews for 50 out of 56 patients, which demonstrated improvement from 74% to 89%, compared to the previous inspection.
All staff had received an annual appraisal in the last 12 months. We noted the practice manager had received a formal written appraisal on 21 October 2016.
Staff feedback had been considered and the practice had made improvements in staffing levels, however it was too early to assess the positive impact.
The practice had displayed an information poster in the waiting area, written in multi-languages about the available translation service.
Staff we spoke with on the day of inspection were aware of the translation service.
Aside from the translation poster; information posters and leaflets were not available in multi-languages. However, the practice website could be translated into various languages and the staff were all aware of this.
The practice had taken steps to identify carers to enable them to access the support available via the practice and external agencies. The practice register of patients who were carers had increased from 153 (0.98%) patients to 283 patients (1.8% of the practice patient population list size).

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

Review how information is displayed in practice and how this could be provided in multiple languages to meet patient needs.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)

Chief Inspector of General Practice