Oakhill Medical Practice

Background to this inspection

Updated 26 September 2017

Oakhill Medical Practice provides primary medical services to approximately 4,770 patients through a general medical services contract (GMS), commissioned by NHS England and North Derbyshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

The practice is located in purpose built premises in Dronfield in North Derbyshire. The premises include six consultation rooms and a treatment room; patients can access the first floor consultation rooms via a lift. The practice has car parking facilities and is accessible by public transport.

The practice population is predominantly of white British background and the level of deprivation is low, ranking significantly below the national average. The practice age profile has higher percentages of patients aged 65 years and over; and lower percentages of patients aged under 40 compared to the national averages.

The practice is run by a partnership of four GPs (two male, two female). The clinical team includes four GP partners, a practice nurse and a health care assistant. The team is supported by a full-time practice manager and a team of reception and administrative staff.

The practice opens Monday to Friday from 8am to 6.30pm.

Consulting times for routine appointments are generally from 8.10am to 12pm and from 3pm to 6pm; with an on call doctor available to assess urgent requests for appointments.

Extended hours appointments are offered on Mondays from 6.30pm until 8pm and on Fridays from 7am until 8am.

The practice has opted out of providing out-of-hours services to its own patients. This service is provided by Derbyshire Health United and is accessed via 111.

Oakhill Medical Practice is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to carry out the following regulated activities: diagnostic and screening procedures; maternity and midwifery services; surgical procedures and treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 26 September 2017

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Oakhill Medical Practice on 2 August 2016. The overall rating for the practice was requires improvement. The full comprehensive report dated 2 August 2016 can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Oakhill Medical Practice on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

We carried out an announced focused inspection on 15 August 2017 to confirm that Oakhill Medical Practice had carried out their action plan, to meet the legal requirement relating to the breach in regulation that we identified at our previous inspection. This report covers our findings in relation to the requirement and also additional improvements made since our last inspection.

Overall the practice is now rated as good. Our key findings were as follows:

The practice had completed their action plan to meet the legal requirement in respect of managing risks to patients to ensure good governance.
Effective systems were in place for receiving and acting on patient safety information in a timely and consistent way. Risks to patients were assessed and appropriately managed to protect them from avoidable harm.
The procedure for managing patient test results had been reviewed to ensure this was effective and safe.
Recruitment procedures had been strengthened to ensure that all appropriate pre-employment checks and information was obtained when appointing new staff.
Senior staff were clear as to the plans for the service, and were able to demonstrate a commitment to on-going improvements. A business development plan outlined plans for the service.
Aspects of the governance arrangements had been strengthened to ensure the delivery of high quality care, and that risks to patients were assessed and appropriately managed.
Regular formal partnership meetings were in place as planned to discuss the business and clinical issues and to review on-going improvements.
The practice undertook quality improvement activity including clinical and non-clinical audits. However, clinical audits completed in the last two years did not include any completed, full cycle audits where required to monitor improvements made in patients care.

In addition the provider should:

Strengthen the monitoring of completed clinical audits, including the completion of full cycle audits where required to monitor improvements made in patients care.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)

Chief Inspector of General Practice