Dr Princewill & Partners

Updated 13 December 2018

Dr Princewill & partners provide primary healthcare services to patients in the Longford and surrounding areas of Coventry under a General Medical Services (GMS) contract with NHS England.

The practice is based within the Longford Primary Care Centre and shares modern facilities with other local health services. The building has a car park and accessible facilities for patients with disabilities.

The practice has one branch surgery located at Bell Green Health Centre in the Bell Green area of Coventry which was also visited as part of this inspection.

Longford Primary Care Centre has a patient list size of approximately 7,600. The patient population age range is broadly in line with the national average, and there is a high level of social deprivation and a shorter than average life expectancy in the locality. The practice patient list includes a higher than average population of patients from black and minority ethnic backgrounds and higher than average population receiving Disability Living Allowance.

The practice partnership currently consists of three male GPs who employ a team of three female practice nurses, one of whom is a nurse prescriber and in addition there is an advanced nurse practitioner. The clinical team are supported by a practice manager and a team of administrative and reception staff.

The practice is open from 8am until 6.30pm on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday and from 8am until 1pm on Thursdays. The branch practice is also open during these times and a range of appointments are available at both locations. On Thursday afternoons a telephone triage service is provided by West Midlands Ambulance Service and any urgent requests are referred to one of the GP partners who remains on call during this time. The practice is a member of the Coventry and Rugby GP Alliance which provides extended hours appointments at nine locations across the city from 6.30pm until 9pm on weekdays as well as during variable hours on Saturday and Sunday mornings. When the practice is closed patients are directed to the out-of-hours service via NHS 111.

Updated 13 December 2018

This practice is rated as Good overall. (Previous rating 3 May 2017 – Requires improvement)

The key questions at this inspection are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? - Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dr Princewill & partners on 16 October 2018. The reason for this inspection was to follow up from a previous inspection on 3 May 2017 when the areas of effective and caring had been identified as requiring improvement which had led to an overall rating of requires improvement.

At this inspection we found:

• 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.
• 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.
• Whilst the national GP patient survey did not reflect levels of satisfaction in line with local and national averages in all areas, patients we spoke with on the day told us they did find the appointment system easy to use and reported that they were able to access care when they needed it. The practice had also taken action to address the lower than average levels of satisfaction and continued to monitor this by conducting their own surveys which had shown positive results and captured the views of a larger cohort of patients.
• There was evidence of a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation and staff confirmed this.
• The practice had addressed the difficulties in recruiting GPs and had been successful in recruiting two new partners and advanced nurse practitioner and established a stable and cohesive workforce.
• The practice had achieved significant improvements in long term conditions through a more focussed approach involving all members of the practice team devolving responsibilities as appropriate.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Continue to work with their action plan to meet capacity needs.
• Continue to monitor and review ways of increasing patient satisfaction with the service.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP
Chief Inspector of General Practice

Please refer to the detailed report and the evidence tables for further information.

Updated 13 December 2018

Updated 13 December 2018

Updated 13 December 2018

Updated 13 December 2018

Updated 13 December 2018

Updated 13 December 2018