Background to this inspection
Updated
14 May 2019
Cubbington Road Surgery is located in Lillington, which is a suburb of Leamington Spa in South Warwickshire. The practice has good transport links and there is plenty of parking available outside the premises. Limited parking spaces are available on site, including for disabled patients.
The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities: diagnostic and screening procedures, family planning, maternity and midwifery services and treatment of disease, disorder or injury.
Cubbington Road Surgery is situated within the South Warwickshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and provides services to 7,189 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.
There are four GP partners (two male and two female) and one retainer GP who was on maternity leave at the time of our inspection (the clinical sessions were covered by a locum GP). One of the GP partners was due to retire at the end of March 2019. A new GP had been recruited and was due to start work in May 2019. The GPs are supported by a practice manager, two practice nurses, a healthcare assistant, a phlebotomist (a person trained to take blood) and reception and administrative staff. The practice is part of the North Leamington Network and the South Warwickshire GP Federation. The practice continues to participate in the Leamington Network as well.
Cubbington Road Surgery is an approved training practice for trainee GPs. A trainee GP is a qualified doctor who is training to become a GP through a period of working and training in a practice. There is currently one trainee GP working at the practice. The practice also offers placements to medical students from Warwick University, but there were no students at the practice at the time of our inspection.
The practice population is in line with the national average across all age groups. The National General Practice Profile states that 98% of the practice population is from a white background with a further 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 which is slightly above the national average of 83 years.
The practice does not provide out of hours services. When the practice is closed patients are directed to contact Care UK via the NHS 111 service.
Updated
14 May 2019
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Cubbington Road Surgery on 26 March 2019 as part of our inspection programme.
At this inspection we followed up on areas identified for improvement at the previous inspection on 10 November 2015, when all domains were rated good.
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 and good for all population groups.
We found that:
- The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
- The practice ensured that care and treatment were delivered according to evidence-based guidelines and best practice.
- There was an open, transparent approach to safety and a system for recording, tracking, and actioning significant events. We saw that there was a well-developed system for learning from events, which included amending processes to prevent a recurrence.
- The practice had systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to occur.
- The systems, processes and practices to keep people safe and safeguarded from abuse were well embedded, as were the systems for identifying and mitigating risks to health and safety.
- The practice scored maximum points in the Quality and Outcomes Framework 2017/18 and was on course to achieve high results for 2018/19.
- The practice provided insulin initiation in-house.
- Results from the National GP Patient Survey showed that the practice achieved higher marks regarding patient access than local and national averages.
- Patients told us that it was very easy to book routine and urgent appointments with a GP of their choice. Routine appointments were often available on the same day.
- Patients we spoke with said that they received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
- The practice worked with other organisations to ensure that patients had access to a range of services to support their health and general wellbeing.
- Services were tailored to suit the needs of individual patients and they were delivered in a flexible way.
- Patient feedback gained via comments cards, reviews on NHS Choices and interviews with patients and care home staff was consistently and strongly positive about the caring attitude of all staff.
- Patients we spoke with were very appreciative of the continuity of care.
- The practice had identified 205 carers, which represented 3% of the practice population.
- The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care and contributed to the strong teamwork and high staff morale.
- There were clear responsibilities, roles and systems of accountability to support effective governance.
- There was evidence of collaborative working with local practices. There was demonstrated commitment to continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.
- The practice implemented suggestions for improvements in response to feedback form patients and the patient participation group.
- The practice had Research Ready accreditation with the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and was part of the Clinical Research Network at Warwick University. Research studies were being carried out which contributed to expanding knowledge and improving outcomes for patients.
There was one outstanding feature:
- The practice had a consistent record of staff going the extra mile for patients. For example a GP was given an award for consistently going above and beyond in patient care by the South Warwickshire Federation in 2017 and a member of the nursing team was recommended for a federation award as a result of her contribution to a vulnerable patient’s health and well-being (results not known at the time of the inspection).
Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.
Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGPChief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care