• Doctor
  • GP practice

Miller Street Surgery

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Miller Street, Newcastle Under Lyme, Staffordshire, ST5 1JD (01782) 711618

Provided and run by:
Miller Street Surgery

Latest inspection summary

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Background to this inspection

Updated 14 August 2017

Miller Street Surgery is located in Newcastle-Under-Lyme and is registered with the Care Quality Commission as a partnership provider. The provider holds a General Medical Services contract with NHS England and is a member of the North Staffordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). The premises is a two storey building with a small car park located to the rear.

The practice building is leased and is managed by two male and one female GP partners. The partners are assisted by a female nurse practitioner and a female practice nurse. The practice has successfully recruited an advanced nurse practitioner due to commence employment in October 2017. The practice was advertising for a business manager and a health care assistant, following an invited human resource external consultation and workforce skillset review. The clinical team is supported by an interim practice manager, a deputy practice manager, two secretaries, five receptionists and a data administrator. The practice provides 2.9 whole time equivalent (WTE) GPs and 1.9 WTE nursing staff.

The practice serves a population of around 6,752 patients. The practice age distribution is comparable to CCG and England averages, with the exception of female and males aged 30-39 years, which is slightly lower. The percentage of patients with a long-standing health condition is 66%, which is higher than the local average of 57% and the national average of 53%. This could mean an increased demand for GP services.

The practice is open from 8am to 6.00pm Monday to Friday. The practice closes at 1pm on a Thursday. The practice offers extended hours on a Tuesday and Thursday morning from 7.30am and one Saturday morning per month from 8.30am to 12noon. The practice is open Monday evening from 6.30pm to 8.30pm. If patients require an urgent appointment, they are asked to contact the surgery from 8am. Routine appointments can be booked two weeks in advance in person, by telephone or on-line. Home visits are available to patients with complex needs or who are unable to attend the surgery.

  • Consultation times with GPs are available in the mornings from 8am to 11.20am. Appointments in the afternoon are available from 2.30pm to 5.10pm and on Monday evening 6.30pm to 8pm.
  • Consultation times with nurses are available from 8am to 5.20pm

Patients requiring a GP outside of normal working hours are advised to contact the NHS 111 GP out of hours service provided by Staffordshire Doctors Urgent Care. This is a service commissioned by North Staffordshire Clinical Commissioning Group.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 14 August 2017

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We previously carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dr S Javaid & Partners (also known as Miller Street Surgery) on 12 July 2016. The overall rating for the practice was ‘Good’ with requires improvement for providing a safe service. Since the last inspection in July 2016 Miller Street Surgery changed its Care Quality Commission registered provider name from Dr S Javaid & Partners to Miller Street Surgery. The full comprehensive report for the 12 July 2016 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Dr S Javaid & Partners on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This inspection was an announced focused inspection carried out on 1 August 2017 to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breach in regulation identified in our previous inspection on 12 July 2016. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements.

Overall the practice is rated as Good.

Our key findings were as follows:

  • The provider had ensured recruitment checks for newly recruited staff met legislative requirements.

  • All staff that provided a chaperone service had Disclosure and Barring Service checks in place and had completed online chaperone training.

  • All persons employed had timely access to training updates.

  • The practice had completed regular analysis of significant events to identify any common trends, maximise learning and help mitigate further errors.

  • We found the practice had implemented a system to ensure patients who took long-term medicines were in receipt of appropriate monitoring and results were checked by the GPs before medicines were prescribed.

  • The practice had ensured prescriptions were checked regularly to ensure they were collected by patients.

  • The practice had improved on the identification of patients who may be carers.

  • Registers held of vulnerable children and adults were reviewed by the practice. The practice implemented regular meetings with the Health Visitor and current and vulnerable patients were clearly identified on the practice computer system.

  • We saw there had been improvement in the practice carer register since the inspection in July 2016. The findings of the inspection in July 2016 were that the practice computer system alerted staff if a patient was also a carer and had identified 33 patients as carers (0.5% of the practice list). The August 2017 inspection found that the practice had identified 101 patients as carers (1.5% of the practice list).

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

People with long term conditions

Good

Updated 26 August 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of people with long-term conditions.

  • The practice offered specialist clinics to address the needs of patients with long-term conditions such as asthma, diabetes and hypertension.

  • 81% of patients on the diabetes register had a record of a blood pressure reading within the preceding 12 months compared to the local average of 76% and the national average of 78%.

  • Longer appointments and home visits were available when needed.

  • The practice provided an on-site phlebotomy (removal of blood) service.

  • Patients were offered regular checks to review their health and medicine needs. Telephone reviews were also provided.

Families, children and young people

Good

Updated 26 August 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of families, children and young people.

  • The practice provided sexual health and family planning services. They were currently unable to offer implants and coil fitting but had access to the local family planning service.

  • The practice offered a full range of antenatal, postnatal services and child health clinics. A midwife regularly visited the practice.

  • Young children had access to same day appointments. Appointments were available outside of school hours.

  • The building had recently been renovated to improve access. Baby feeding and changing facilities were available.

  • Immunisation rates were comparable to local averages for all standard childhood immunisations. Flu immunisations were available for pregnant women and small children.

  • The practice’s uptake for the cervical screening programme was 96%, which was higher than the CCG and national averages of 82%.

Older people

Good

Updated 26 August 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of older people.

  • The practice had a call and recall system to ensure older people attended their appointments when necessary.

  • Patients aged 75 and older had a named GP and had open access to appointments.

  • Home visits by a GP were available on a daily basis for patients with enhanced needs.

  • The practice held meetings with the palliative care team and worked in partnership with other healthcare professionals in meeting the needs of older people with complex needs.

  • The practice provided medical support to a number of patients residing in local care homes. These included weekly clinical rounds, medication reviews and flu vaccinations.

Working age people (including those recently retired and students)

Good

Updated 26 August 2016

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. The practice had adjusted the services it offered to ensure these were accessible, flexible and offered continuity of care. For example, the practice offered extended hours on a Tuesday and Thursday morning, every other Monday evening and on one Saturday morning each month to allow flexibility for patients.

  • A range of online services were available, including booking and cancelling appointments, prescriptions and access to health medical records.

  • Free NHS Health checks were available for patients aged 40 to 74. Two hundred and twenty-five patients had received these checks in the preceding 12 months.

  • The practice provided an on-site phlebotomy (removal of blood) service to avoid patients having to access a hospital.

  • The practice utilised the electronic prescribing system (EPS) which meant prescriptions could be sent directly to the patient’s chosen pharmacy at the time of the consultation.

People experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia)

Good

Updated 26 August 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia).

  • The practice held a register of patients experiencing poor mental health and patients with dementia and carried out annual reviews.

  • The practice offered weekly and fortnightly monitored prescriptions for patients experiencing poor mental health until their condition stabilised.

  • Patients experiencing poor mental health were told how to access various support groups and voluntary organisations.
  • Double appointments were available to allow sufficient time to deal with patients with complex issues.

  • Home visits were available to carry out reviews when necessary.

People whose circumstances may make them vulnerable

Good

Updated 26 August 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable.

  • The practice displayed information in the waiting area about how to access local support groups and voluntary organisations.

  • The practice had access to a HUB where patients could be offered a face-to-face or telephone service for help with bereavement, depression or anxiety. Help with loneliness, alcohol and substance misuse problems was also available along with mental health issues or physical and learning disabilities.

  • The practice regularly worked with other health care professionals in the case management of vulnerable patients. They held a register of vulnerable patients but the registers did not reflect all of the current vulnerable patients registered with the practice so that they were clearly identified to staff on the practice computer system.

  • 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.

  • The practice held a carers’ register and information was available to direct carers to avenues of support available to them.

  • The majority of patients’ first language was English, however a translation service was available if needed and there was an open registration policy in place.