Abington Medical Centre

Updated 6 January 2022

Abington Medical Centre is located at:

51a Beech Avenue

Northampton

Northamptonshire

NN3 2JG

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 and surgical procedures.

The practice is situated within the Northamptonshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and delivers General Medical Services (GMS) to a patient population of approximately 14,603. This is part of a contract held with NHS England.

The practice is part of a wider network of GP practices known as Grand Union. A Primary Care Network (PCN) which is a group of practices working together with a range of local providers. Grand Union PCN consists of five practices with a total of 67,000 patients.

Information published by Public Health England shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the fifth lowest decile (five of 10). The lower the decile, the more deprived the practice population is relative to others.

According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the practice area is 7% Asian, 81% White, 5% Black, 4% Mixed, and 3% Other.

The age distribution of the practice population closely mirrors the local and national averages; except for people aged between nine and 14 which was above local and national averages. There are more male patients registered at the practice compared to females.

The clinical team consists of a team of nine GPs. There are six nurses who provide nurse led clinics for long-term condition and two Health Care Assistants (HCAs). The clinical teams supported at the practice by a practice manager, a deputy practice manager, an assistant practice manager who also carries out HR duties, a reception manager and a team of reception/administration staff. There are two pharmacy technicians, two pharmacists a paramedic, two social prescribers and a care home coordinator who are employed by the PCN.

Abington Medical Centre is a training practice and at the time of our inspection, there were four registrars and two medical students.

Due to the enhanced infection prevention and control measures put in place since the pandemic and in line with the national guidance, most GP appointments were telephone consultations. If the GP needs to see a patient face-to-face then the patient is offered a choice of either the main GP location or the branch surgery.

Extended access is provided locally by General Practice Alliance (GPA), where late evening and weekend appointments are available (GPA have 21 Northampton based member GP practices, who are shareholders in the federation and together have formed five primary care networks spanning a patient population of 210,000).

The practice is open from 8am to 6:30pm Monday to Friday. The practice closes one afternoon a month from 12.30pm for local GP and Nurse training. Information detailing these dates are located on the practice website. Out of hours services are provided by NHS 111 as well as during times when the practice is closed for training.

Updated 6 January 2022

We carried out an unannounced inspection at Abington Medical Centre on 9 December 2021. This inspection was focused on the management of access to appointments.

Overall, the practice remains rated as Good.

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Abington Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection

This inspection was undertaken in response to data/information we reviewed which suggested potential issues with access to appointments.

How we carried out the inspection

The inspection was led by a CQC lead inspector who spoke with staff on site. The inspection included a site visit.

Interviews were carried out with the clinical lead and practice manager.

We found that:

• People were able to access appointments in a timely way.
• The provider implemented a triage system which reduced avoidable footfall in the practice and enabled staff to navigate patients to the right healthcare professional with the right level of urgency.
• The practice offered a range of appointment types.
• There were systems in place to support people who face communication barriers to access treatment.
• There were systems in place to monitor access to appointments and make improvements. The practice carried out an internal survey which showed that patients were satisfied with the range of options to access appointments.
• The practice listened and responded to patient feedback, by making adjustments to technology to support the delivery of improvements.
• The practice shared changes with other neighbouring practices; such as the implementation of a triage protocol which some neighbouring practices adopted.
• Regular reviews of demand was carried out and used to support staff workflow and allocation of tasks. This was also used to ensure sufficient levels of staff were allocated to managing the phone lines during busy periods.
• Clinical leads undergoing a masters degree in digital health used theoretical knowledge gained to make improvements within the practice.
• The practice had an active Patient Participation Group (PPG) and shared updates with PPG members.
• The practice created a tutorial video for patients around how to sign up to and use online services.

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