Archived: Colne Road Surgery

Updated 15 October 2015

Colne Road Surgery is situated in Burnley in East Lancashire. It is part of the NHS East Lancashire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG.) Services are provided under a general medical service (GMS) contract with NHS England. There are 4592 registered patients. The practice is situated on a residential road with limited on street parking available nearby. Information published by Public Health England, rates the level of deprivation within the practice population group as one on a scale of one to ten. Level one represents the highest levels of deprivation and level ten the lowest. Deprivation affecting children with in the practice is rated at 34% compared with CCG averages of 22.9%. Deprivation affecting older people is rated at 33% compared with CCG averages of 22.3%. These results are below the national averages of 21.8% for children and above for older people at 18.1% nationally.

The practice is currently in the process of removing one GP and becoming a single handed GP practice.The practice has a permanent male GP, a long standing locum female GP, an advanced nurse practitioner (ANP), two practice nurses, a new practice manager and an administration team to support the running of the practice.

The practice population includes a lower proprortion (25.7%) of people over the age of 65, and a higher proportion (41.1%) of people under the age of 18, in comparison with the national average of 26.9% and 31.9% respectively. The practice also has a lower percentage of patients who have caring responsibilities (16.7%) than both the national England average (18.4%) and the CCG average (20.7%). The practice has a high rate of patients with health-related problems in daily life (72%) compared with CCG and National averages of 53% and 48.7%.

The practice telephone lines open from 8.00 am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday. Appointments are available during these opening times with the GPs and appointments with the nurse are available daily until 6pm. The ANP and GP offer alternate late clinics every Thursday from 6.30 till 9pm. Following public holidays the surgery offer an extra clinic in the morning to assist patients requiring attention. They hold seasonal Flu vaccination clinics at certain times of the year. Patients requiring a GP outside of normal working hours are advised to contact an external out of hours at East Lancashire Medical Services. When closed the practice answering machine informs patients of this number.

The practice GP supported two Medical Students from a local university who were in the third year of their training.

Updated 15 October 2015

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Colne Road Surgery on 09/09/2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and to report incidents and near misses. Information about safety was recorded, monitored, appropriately reviewed and addressed.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed, however were not fully recorded.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff had received training appropriate to their roles and any further training needs had been identified and planned.

• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and that there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.

However there were areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

Importantly the provider should;

• Ensure all risk assessments are fully documented.
• Ensure the Locum pack is available to all locums working at the practice.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 15 October 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 medication 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 15 October 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 in line with Clinical Commissioning Group averages for all childhood immunisations. One practice nurse was trained to level 4 in child neglect to support the GP and other professionals when children were identified as neglected. 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.

Updated 15 October 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. The practice was responsive to the needs of older people, and offered home visits and rapid access appointments for those with enhanced needs. One practice nurse had five hours per week identified in her contract for home visits to elderly and patients requiring on-going home care.

Updated 15 October 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 reflects the needs for this age group.

Updated 15 October 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia). 100% of people experiencing poor mental health had received an annual physical health check last year and 80% had an agreed care plan in their records. 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.

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.

Updated 15 October 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. Last year 100% of these patients had received a follow-up and since April this year 33% had been completed. 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.

The practice worked closely with another professional group in the shared care of patients with drug misuse problems who were actively part of a recovery group.