Grove House Surgery

Updated 7 February 2018

Grove House Surgery has stood on the same site for 115 years and is situated on Soothill Lane, Batley, WF17 5SS. The branch surgery Chickenley Medical Centre is approximately 2.5miles away on Walnut Lane, Dewsbury, WF12 8NJ. The surgeries have good transport links and there is a pharmacy located across the road from the Grove House Surgery and a pharmacy next door to Chickenley Medical Centre. The surgeries provide accessible facilities for all patients and whilst car parking at the Grove House site is limited, there is parking reserved for patients with a disability.

Grove House Surgery is situated within the North Kirklees Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and provides services to patients under the terms of a personal medical services (PMS) contract. This is a contract between general practices and NHS England for delivering services to the local community.

The practice currently has 9,172 patients split over both locations. The National General Practice Profile shows that 28% of the practice population is from a south Asian background with a further 2% of patients from mixed and other non-white ethnic groups. Over 9% of their patients are aged 75 and over; 24% of the practice population is aged 18 years and under which is higher than the national average of 21%.

There are three female GP partners at the practice and one male partner, one male long term sessional GP, a full time advanced nurse practitioner (ANP) a part time practice nurse and two healthcare assistants (HCAs) all of whom are female. The practice also has part time pharmacy support from the CCG. The clinical team is supported by a practice manager and the patient services team who undertake administration, secretarial and reception duties. One of the GP partners is in the process of registering with the CQC.

Information published by Public Health England rates the level of deprivation within the practice population group as three, on a scale of one to ten. Level one represents the highest levels of deprivation and level ten the lowest. In England, people living in the least deprived areas of the country live around 20 years longer in good health than people in the most deprived areas. Male life expectancy is 78 years compared to the national average of 79 years. Female life expectancy is 82 years compared to the national average of 83 years.

Grove House Surgery is open between 7am and 6.30pm Monday to Friday with nursing appointments available throughout the day. GP appointments are available between 8am and 6.30pm each day. The surgery offers extended hours access until 8pm on a Monday with both GP and nursing appointments available. Chickenley Medical Centre surgery is open between 8am and 12pm each day with appointments available between 8.30am and 12pm. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays the centre is also open between 3.30pm and 6.30pm for appointments. There are nursing appointments available from 7am on Thursdays. Patients are able to access appointments at both locations. Outside these times patients can access out of hours care by calling the NHS 111 service or using the Walk in Centre at Dewsbury District Hospital.

During our inspection we saw that the provider was displaying the previously awarded Care Quality Commission inspection ratings.

Updated 7 February 2018

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

This practice is rated as Good overall. (The previous inspection was carried out on 26 November 2015 and the practice was rated as Good).

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 retired and students – Good

People whose circumstances may make them vulnerable – Good

People experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia) - Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Grove House Surgery and the branch surgery at Chickenley Medical Centre on 10 January 2018 as part of our inspection programme.

At this inspection we found:

• The practice had clear, organised systems and protocols to review and manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the practice were honest and open, ensured that all staff learned from them and improved their processes.
• Regular meetings were held between the clinical team and the wider multidisciplinary team, including health visitors, midwifes and members of the palliative care team. Managers from the care homes which the practice supported were also invited.
• There was an embedded comprehensive system in place for actioning and cascading medicine safety alerts.
• Results from the July 2017 annual national GP patient survey showed that the patient experience of making an appointment was good. Patients also found it easy to get through to the surgery by phone and satisfaction was 16% higher than the national average.
• The practice had commenced a review of the immunisation status of the staff team; however, this had not been fully completed on the day of inspection. Following our visit a staff immunisation policy was implemented.
• The practice had a Patient Participation Group (PPG) with up to six regular members. The group told us they felt valued by the practice and suggestions, comments and criticisms were always acted upon.
• Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• The practice were participating in the Productive General Practice programme and had implemented new processes for workforce planning and workforce organisation. For example, the patient services team had implemented a ‘jobs board’ whereby each required daily task was allocated to an individual using a red and green card. We saw that roles, tasks and responsibilities were clear and managed in a timely manner.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• The provider should continue to proactively identify patients who are carers to assure themselves that they are able to offer them the appropriate support.
• The provider should continue to review and document the immunisation status of the staff team.
• The provider should review the seating in the reception area of the Chickenley Medical Centre.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 7 February 2018

Updated 7 February 2018

Updated 7 February 2018

Updated 7 February 2018

Updated 7 February 2018

Updated 7 February 2018