Archived: Brookside Health Centre

Updated 27 July 2016

Brookside Health Centre, Queens Road, Freshwater, Isle of Wight, PO40 9DT is part of the West Wight Medical Practice and has a branch at Yarmouth Surgery, Station Road, Yarmouth, IOW, PO41 0QP. We did not inspect the branch practice.

The practice is responsible for providing primary care services to approximately 10,700 patients covering a large rural area of the Isle of Wight. The majority of the population come from Freshwater, Freshwater Bay, Alum Bay, Totland, Yarmouth and smaller surrounding villages. The practice has a GMS contract with the local clinical commissioning group to provide primary medical services to the area.

The appointments system is designed to provide patients with advice or an appointment as quickly as possible. The GP will phone the patient back, at their request, to arrange this. Appointments to see the GP are made by the GP or Advanced Nurse Practitioner (ANP).

For routine matters patients are asked to contact the practice either by telephone or by walking into reception between 8.30am and 3.00pm (Monday to Friday). The reception switchboard is open until 6.00pm.

The receptionist will take a telephone number where the patient can be contacted by the GP within a range of times suitable to the patient. Patients are asked to advise the receptionist if the problem is urgent or if the patient has a disability that prohibits them from using the telephone.

Patients are told that it may be appropriate for advice to be given by a GP over the telephone, for the patient to see another healthcare professional or have tests before being seen. If an appointment is needed this will be arranged by the patient and the GP. The practice aims to see all patients within 48 hours or at another time suitable to the patient.

At times when a patient’s usual GP is away from the practice or on holiday and if the patient agrees that the matter is not urgent and for continuity of care, patients are asked to contact the practice on their GP’s return.

If the matter cannot wait until the usual GP is available, the patient is contacted by another GP.

The practice has opted out of providing out-of-hours services to their own patients and refers them to the Beacon Centre who are the out-of-hours provider on the Isle of Wight. Patients can access the Beacon Centre via the 111 service.

The practice has three GPs two female and one male, two regular male locum GPs, a managing partner and three ANPs who together work the equivalent of seven and a quarter full time staff. The GPs and ANPs are supported by 11 nursing staff and health care assistants. The practice also has an administration team of 19 which consists of receptionists, administrators, a secretary, reception manager, IT manager and the practice manager.

The practice has a high number of patients who aged between 55 and 85 when compared to the England average.

Updated 27 July 2016

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced focussed inspection of Brookside Health Centre on 12 May 2016, to check that requirements made at our inspection in March 2015 had been met. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Our previous inspection in March 2015 had found the practice was good overall. We found that the practice required improvement in the Effective domain due to breaches of regulations relating to safe delivery of services. The practice was good for Safe, Caring, Responsive and well led services.

At that inspection we told the practice that they must maintain records relating to the management of regulated activities. We saw that policies required updating and in one case there was no policy in relation the Disclosure and Barring service checking.

The practice now maintained records relating to the management of regulated activities. This means anything relevant to the planning and delivery of care and treatment. This included governance arrangements such as policies and procedures, service and maintenance records, audits, and reviews, purchasing, actions plans in response to risk and incidents. We saw that policies had been updated.

The provider ensured that information about Health and Safety was up to date, accurate and properly analysed.

The practice had effective communication systems to ensure that people who use the service and relevant staff within the practice know the results of reviews about the quality and safety of the service and any actions being taken. We saw that the practice now held clinical meetings and practice staff meetings on a regular basis.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 27 August 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people with long-term conditions. Nursing staff had lead roles in chronic disease management and patients at risk of hospital admission were identified as a priority. Longer appointments and home visits were available when needed. All these patients had a named GP and a structured annual review to check that their health and medicine needs were being met. For those people with the most complex needs, the named GP worked with relevant health and care professionals to deliver a multidisciplinary package of care.

Updated 27 August 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of families, children and young people. There were systems in place to identify and follow up children living in disadvantaged circumstances and who were at risk, for example, children and young people who had a high number of A&E attendances. Immunisation rates were relatively high for all standard childhood immunisations. Patients told us that children and young people were treated in an age-appropriate way and were recognised as individuals, and we saw evidence to confirm this. Appointments were available outside of school hours and the premises were suitable for children and babies. We saw good examples of joint working with midwives, health visitors and school nurses.

Updated 27 August 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of older people. Nationally reported data showed that outcomes for patients were good for conditions commonly found in older people. The practice offered proactive, personalised care to meet the needs of the older people in its population and had a range of enhanced services, for example, in dementia and end of life care. It was responsive to the needs of older people, and offered home visits and rapid access appointments for those with enhanced needs.

Updated 27 August 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of working-age people (including those recently retired and students). The needs of the working age population, those recently retired and students had been identified and the practice had adjusted the services it offered to ensure these were accessible, flexible and offered continuity of care. The practice was proactive in offering online services as well as a full range of health promotion and screening that reflected the needs for this age group.

Updated 27 August 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia). 74.59% of people experiencing poor mental health had received an annual physical health check.

The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of people experiencing poor mental health, including those with dementia. It carried out advance care planning for patients with dementia. longer appointments were available for patients who had poor mental health together with additional health problems.

The practice had told patients experiencing poor mental health about how to access various support groups and voluntary organisations. It had a system in place to follow up patients who had attended accident and emergency (A&E) where they may have been experiencing poor mental health. Staff had received training on how to care for people with mental health needs and dementia.

Updated 27 August 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable. The practice held a register of patients living in vulnerable circumstances including homeless people, travellers and those with a learning disability. It had carried out annual health checks for people with a learning disability at either the practice or at the patient’s home, depending on what was most appropriate for the patient. The practice tried to maintain continuity of care with the same team members building up trusting relationships with patients. It offered longer appointments for people with a learning disability.

The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of vulnerable people. It had told vulnerable patients about how to access various support groups and voluntary organisations. Staff knew how to recognise signs of abuse in vulnerable adults and children. Staff were aware of their responsibilities regarding information sharing, documentation of safeguarding concerns and how to contact relevant agencies in normal working hours and out of hours.