Balsall Common and Meriden Group Practice

Updated 23 May 2018

Balsall Common and Meriden Group Practice is based in the Solihull Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) area, which provides primary medical services under a General Medical Services (GMS) contract. (A GMS contract is a standard nationally agreed contract used for general medical services providers.) to a population of approximately 12,954 patients living in Balsall Common, Meriden and surrounding areas.

The practice’s branch surgery, Meriden Surgery, is based at the Old School House, 200 Main Road, Meriden, Coventry, West Midlands. We did not visit the branch surgery as part of the inspection. This inspection focused on Balsall Common Health Centre based at, 1 Ashley Drive, Balsall Common. We reviewed the most recent data available to us which showed that the practice is located in one of the least deprived areas in Solihull. The patients are predominantly white British (95%) with small pockets of mixed race and Asian ethnicity (less than 5%). The practice has an above average patient population who are aged 65 years and over and a lower than average patient population aged 0 to 4 years in comparison to the average practice across England.

The practice is based in a two storey, purpose built health centre housing a number of consultation and treatment rooms some with specialist use. There is a main waiting area and several sub waiting areas. The reception area is situated on the ground floor opposite the entrance. Administration rooms are on both the ground and first floors which can be accessed either by lift or stairs.

The Meriden branch surgery is in a converted building with four consultation/treatment rooms, a main waiting area and reception and office space. Parking and facilities for disabled patients are available at both sites.

There are six permanent GPs (three male and four female) which includes five registered partners and one salaried GP. The practice employs an Advanced Nurse Practioners (female), three practice nurses (female) and one female health care assistant (HCA) with an additional HCA due to join the team in March 2018.The clinical team are supported by the practice manager and 17 administrative staff including secretaries and reception staff.

The practice is a training practice for GP Registrars (fully qualified doctors who wish to become general practitioners) and a teaching practice for medical students in their final year. The registered patient list size is 12458 patients.

The practice is open Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 8:30am to 6pm. However, the practice is closed every Thursday from 12pm until Friday morning 8:30am. When the practice is closed on Thursday afternoons patients requiring an appointment to see a GP can attend the branch surgery in Meriden until 6pm. A reciprocal arrangement is in place on Wednesday afternoons. 

The practice has opted out of providing out-of-hours services to their own patients. If patients require a GP out of normal surgery hours a service is provided by Badger, who are an external out of hours service provider contracted by the CCG and can be accessed by the NHS 111 telephone service. Information regarding this is available in the practice waiting areas and on the website.

Updated 23 May 2018

This practice is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspection 5 November 2014 – Good)

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? - Good

As part of our inspection process, we also look at the quality of care for specific population groups. The population groups are rated as:

Older People – Good

People with long-term conditions – Good

Families, children and young people – Good

Working age people (including those recently retired and students) – Good

People whose circumstances may make them vulnerable – Good

People experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia) - Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Balsall Common and Meriden Group Practice on 20 February 2018 as part of our inspection programme

At this inspection we found:

• The practice had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. We saw that when incidents did happen, the practice discussed these at clinical meetings and learned from them and improved their processes as a result.
• The practice routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.
• Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity, respect and in a timely manner. The National GP Patient survey results reflected this.

• In addition comment cards we received reported high levels of satisfaction with the services at the practice and patients we spoke with were also provided positive feedback.
• Patients found the appointment system easy to use and reported that they were able to access care when they needed it. However we did receive feedback that it was sometimes difficult to get through to the practice on the telephone and survey results reflected this.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation. This is a training practice and the GP registrars (a GP Registrar is a qualified doctor who is training to become a GP through a period of working and training in a practice) we spoke with felt well supported.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Continue to monitor patient satisfaction rates in particular in relation to access to the service.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 30 April 2015

Patients with long term conditions were reviewed by the GPs and the nurses to assess and monitor their health condition so that any changes to their treatment could be made. Patients were proactively invited to attend the practice to support the management of their long term condition. Health checks and medication reviews took place and repeat prescriptions were accessible. These arrangements help to minimise unnecessary admissions to hospital.

The practice had specific clinics where dedicated teams of staff reviewed and managed patients with long term conditions such as diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma. There was evidence of multi-disciplinary working with relevant health care professionals to deliver effective and responsive care.

Updated 30 April 2015

Antenatal care was provided by the midwife who undertook clinics at the practice. Post natal checks were completed by GPs to ensure a holistic assessment of women’s physical and mental wellbeing following child birth. This was coordinated with the six week checks for babies. Women were offered cervical screening and there were systems in place to audit results. The practice had achieved excellent results in women’s health by appropriate referral to secondary care. This was evidenced by completed audit and peer review.

Children under the age of 5 years had access to the Healthy Child Programme. The practice had an allocated health visiting team who were based within the health centre. This enabled good working relationship with systems in place for information sharing. Safeguarding procedures were in place for identifying and responding to concerns about children who were at risk of harm.

Updated 30 April 2015

The practice had an above average older practice population. All patients over 75 years of age had an allocated GP. This is an accountable GP to ensure patients over the age of 75 years received co-ordinated care. Vulnerable older patients with specific urgent care needs had been identified by the practice in order that appropriate care plans could be created and kept under review. There was a dedicated telephone number that could be used in emergencies which would transfer them straight through to the practice.

Patients over the age of 75 years were offered health checks at dedicated clinics that took place. There were arrangements to review patients in their own home if they were unable to attend the practice.

Updated 30 April 2015

The practice did not open extended hours however, early morning and late evening appointments were available to accommodate the needs of working age patients. Patients were able to book non urgent appointments and order repeat prescriptions around their working day by telephone or on line. Telephone consultations were available so patients could call and speak with a GP or a nurse where appropriate if they did not wish to or were unable to attend the practice.

NHS checks were available for people aged between 40 years and 74 years. The practice offered a range of health promotion and screening services which reflected the needs for this age group. Opportunistic health checks and advice was offered such as blood pressure checks and advice on stop smoking and weight management.

Updated 30 April 2015

Patients with serious mental illnesses were offered an annual review of their physical and mental health needs, including a review of their medicines.

Staff worked closely with local community mental health teams to ensure patients with mental health needs were reviewed, and that appropriate risk assessments and care plans were in place.

Updated 30 April 2015

The practice had a registration policy in place which enabled people without a permanent address to register at the practice; this could often be people who are living in vulnerable circumstances.

The practice provided an enhanced service to avoid unplanned hospital admissions .This service focused on coordinated care for the most vulnerable patients and included emergency health care plans. The aim was to avoid admission to hospital by managing their health needs at home. An enhanced service is a service that is provided above the standard general medical service contract (GMS). Annual health checks were undertaken for patients with a learning disability.