Archived: The Sollershott Surgery

Updated 17 May 2018

The Sollershott Surgery provides a range of primary medical services to the residents of Letchworth Garden City and the adjoining borders of Hitchin and Baldock. The practice was established in 1963 and has been at its current location of 44 Sollershott East, Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire, SG6 3JW since 1989.

The practice population is predominantly white British with a higher than average 60 to 79 year age range. National data indicates the area is one of low deprivation. The practice has approximately 5,500 patients and services are provided under an Alternative Provider Medical Services (APMS) contract, this is a locally agreed contract with NHS England and GP practices.

At the time of the inspection in May 2016, the practice was led by two GP partners and they employed a salaried GP, a regular locum GP and a practice nurse. Since the inspection, the two GP partners resigned their contract and the remaining GPs and practice nurse all left the practice. In January 2017 The Practice Group, a company that provides services on behalf of the NHS, were commissioned to run the service. They currently have four self-employed sessional GPs and one locum GP. There is a vacancy for a practice nurse which is currently filled by a locum practice nurse. There is a health care assistant and a team of reception and administrative staff led by the practice manager and patient services manager. The practice was supported by The Practice Group clinical director, who acted as the clinical lead for the practice and a regional support manager who was the CQC registered manager for the practice. (A registered manager is an individual registered with CQC to manage the regulated activities provided).

The practice is registered with the CQC to provide the regulated activities of diagnostic and screening procedures, family planning, maternity and midwifery services, surgical procedures, and treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

The practice is open from 8.30am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday, with access via the telephone from 8am daily. Appointments are available at from 8.40am to 12.30pm and 2pm to 6pm daily. The practice does not offer any extended opening hours appointments.

When the practice is closed out-of-hours services are provided by Herts Urgent Care and can be accessed via the NHS 111 service.

Updated 17 May 2018

This practice is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspection 07/2017 – Inadequate)

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 undertook a comprehensive inspection of The Sollershott Surgery on 12 May 2016 under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. The practice was rated as inadequate for providing safe and well led services and was placed into special measures for a period of six months. We undertook a further announced comprehensive inspection of The Sollershott Surgery on 06 July 2017. This inspection was carried out following the period of special measures to see if improvements had been made and to assess whether the practice could come out of special measures. The practice continued to be rated as inadequate for providing safe and well led services and remained in special measures for a further period of six months. The full comprehensive reports on the May 2016 and July 2017 inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for The Sollershott Surgery on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This inspection was undertaken following the period of special measures and was an announced comprehensive inspection on 28 March 2018.

At this inspection we found:

• Practice specific policies and procedures were in place, they were regularly reviewed and accessible to all staff, including locum and temporary staff.
• Patients’ health was now monitored to ensure appropriate blood monitoring had taken place. The provider had implemented a rolling programme of audits of patients who were prescribed high-risk medicines.
• The provider had identified a clinical lead for the practice and established a regular team of self-employed sessional GPs to provide continuity of care. Clinical meetings were now held in the practice.
• The practice had developed an active patient participation group (PPG) who they engaged with to obtain views and concerns of the patient population.
• The practice had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the practice learned from them and improved their processes. Incidents and learning were shared with the provider’s governance team to identify any trends and learning across the organisation.
• 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 and respect.
• The most recent published quality and outcomes framework (QOF) data showed the practice were below local and national averages overall and in many areas particularly for the monitoring of patients with long-term conditions and patients experiencing poor mental health (including those with dementia).

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Continue to monitor and ensure improvements to national GP patient survey results in all areas.
• Continue to monitor the care and improve outcomes for patients particularly those with diabetes and patients experiencing poor mental health.
• Consider ways to ensure staff engagement and satisfaction with their employment.

I am taking this service out of special measures. This recognises the significant improvements made to the quality of care provided by this service.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 17 May 2018

Updated 17 May 2018

Updated 17 May 2018

Updated 17 May 2018

Updated 17 May 2018

Updated 17 May 2018