Archived: Diadem Medical Practice

Updated 29 October 2015

Diadem Medical Practice’s practice is located in a residential area of Hull and serves the surrounding areas of Bilton Grange, Longhill and Ings Road estates. There are 11,695 patients on the practice list and the majority of patients are of white British background. There are seven GP partners four of which are male and three are female. There are four practice nurses and one healthcare assistant. They are supported by a practice manager, reception and administrative staff. The practice is supported by an outside organisations domestic staff on a daily basis for cleaning duties.

The practice is in a higher comparatively deprived area and has a higher than average number of patients with health related problems in daily life and patients in receipt of Disability Allowance.

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

The practice is open for appointments on extended hours 8.00am to 8.00pm Tuesday and Wednesday and on a Monday, Thursday and Friday from 8.00am until 6.00pm. Out of Hours services are provided through Core Care, which patients’ access via the 111 service.

The practice has a General Medical Service (GMS) contract and also offers enhanced services for example; childhood vaccination and immunisation scheme, minor surgery and extended hours access. The practice does not currently have an active patient participation group (PPG), although the practice manager told us they are seeking to introduce a new group in the near future.

Updated 29 October 2015

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Diadem Medical Practice on 25 August 2015.

Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• Urgent appointments were available the same day.
• The practice had good facilities including disabled access which included a lift to allow access to first floor consulting rooms.
• Information about services and how to complain was available in the practice leaflet and on their website. The practice sought patient views about improvements that could be made to the service.
• The practice proactively sought to educate their patients to manage their medical conditions and improve their lifestyles by having additional in house services available. These included 24 hour blood pressure monitoring and long term conditions clinics.
• There were systems in place to reduce risks to patient safety for example, infection control procedures.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff had received training appropriate to their roles.
• The practice made good use of audits and had shared information from their audits with staff to promote better patient outcomes.

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

Importantly the provider should:

• Ensure all staff are aware of the business emergency arrangements including contact numbers from the business continuity plan and staff to call.
• Ensure all staff are aware of the whistleblowing policy and procedures.
• Ensure the designated Infection Control lead is fully aware of their defined responsibilities.
• Ensure all staff training for Infection Control and the training is also included as part of the practice induction process.

Ensure all multi-disciplinary health professional reviews and meetings are consistently recorded.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 29 October 2015

The practice is rated good for the care of people with long-term conditions. These patients had a regular review with either the GP and/or the nurse to check their health and medication. Patients were encouraged to manage their conditions and were referred to health education and other in-house services when necessary, for example a dietician. The practice proactively reviewed patients with undiagnosed diabetes. The aim of this programme was to avoid unplanned admissions for identified patients and they were given 30 minute education sessions to address lifestyle issues. This also included patients with multiple long term conditions and combined clinics were in place.

Updated 29 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. Immunisation rates were good for all standard childhood immunisations. Patients told us that children and young people were treated in an age-appropriate way and were recognised as individuals. 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, health visitors and school nurses.

Updated 29 October 2015

The practice is rated good for the care of older people. The practice offered proactive, personalised care to meet the needs of the older people in its population, if necessary as well as rapid access appointments for those with enhanced needs. The practice offered home visits and usual doctor appointments to improve continuity of care. The practice had regular contact with community nurses and participated in meetings with other healthcare professionals to discuss any concerns. However, records of multi-disciplinary team meetings required to be further established.

Updated 29 October 2015

The practice is rated good for the care of working-age people (including those recently retired and students). The needs of this population group had been identified and the practice had adjusted the services it offered to ensure these were accessible. For example, the practice offered extended hours on two evenings until 8.00pm for those people who could not attend during normal opening hours. The practice also offered online services as well as a full range of health promotion and screening that reflected the needs for this age group.

Updated 29 October 2015

The practice is rated good for the care of people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia). All patients experiencing poor mental health had received an annual physical health check. 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 advanced care planning for patients with dementia. The practice offered home visits in the local community area for patients with poor mental health and had a Practice Nurse leading on patients with severe mental health issues.

Updated 29 October 2015

The practice is rated good for the care of people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable. The practice held a register of patients living in vulnerable circumstances including those with a learning disability. It had carried out annual health checks and longer appointments were available for people with a learning disability. Staff had been trained 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.