Cauldwell Medical Centre

Updated 4 April 2019

Cauldwell Medical Centre provides a range of primary medical services from its location at Bedford Hospital, South Wing, Bedford, MK42 9DJ. It is part of the NHS Bedfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). The practice holds an Alternative Provider Medical Services contract (APMS), this is a locally agreed contract with clinical commissioning groups and GP practices. The service was taken over by the provider Virgin Care Services Limited on 1 August 2017. Virgin Care Services Limited is a registered provider that delivers services across England. The practice was formed from the merge of three local practices.

The practice serves a population of approximately 9,000 patients with a slightly lower than national average population of patients aged over 65 years. The practice population is 69% white British and 20% Asian.

Information published by Public Health England rates the level of deprivation within the practice population group as four on a scale of one to ten. Level one represents the highest levels of deprivation and level ten the lowest.

The clinical team consists of two salaried GPs (one male / one female). The practice regularly uses locums to ensure clinical availability. The practice also employs three female senior nurse practitioner / prescribers and two female practice nurses. The clinical team also includes a health care assistant and a practice-based pharmacist. The team is supported by a practice manager and a team of non-clinical, administrative staff. Members of the community midwife team and a community psychiatric nurse operate regular clinics from the practice.

The practice operates from the ground floor of Bedford Hospital. The administration team are based on the second floor of the same building. There is disabled access throughout. There is a small payable car park outside the surgery, with disabled parking available.

Cauldwell Medical Centre is open from 8am to 6.30pm on Monday to Friday. When the practice is closed, out of hours services are can be accessed via the NHS 111 service. Information about this is available in the practice and on the practice website.

The practice provides family planning, maternity and midwifery services, treatment of disease, disorder or injury and diagnostic and screening procedures as their regulated activities.

Updated 4 April 2019

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Cauldwell Medical Centre on 23 February 2018. The overall rating for the practice was requires improvement. The full comprehensive report on the February 2018 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Cauldwell Medical Centre on our website at .

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Cauldwell Medical Centre on 6 March 2019 to follow up on practice improvements.

Our judgement of the quality of care at this service is based on a combination of what we found when we inspected, information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services and information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.

The practice is rated as good overall.

We rated the practice as good for providing safe services because:

• People who used the service were protected from avoidable harm and abuse, and legal requirements were met.
• The systems for infection prevention and control were adequate and the premises were visibly clean and tidy.
• Prescriptions were managed safely and the practice ensured they were logged in and out of clinical sessions
• Safety alerts were appropriately managed. Clinical records we looked at confirmed this.

We rated the practice as requires improvement for providing effective services because:

• Clinical indicators for patients with long-term conditions and patients suffering from a mental health condition were below the local and national averages.
• Childhood immunisation uptake rates were below the World Health Organisation (WHO) targets.

We rated the practice as good for providing caring services because:

• Staff showed commitment to patient care and ensured their privacy and dignity was maintained at all times.
• The practice maintained a carers register and offered appropriate support to these patients.

We rated the practice as good for providing responsive services because:

• The GP National Survey results were in line with local and national averages.
• Complaints were appropriately responded to and analysed. Learning from complaints was regularly shared with staff members.
• The practice had responded to patient feedback and made improvements to the service.

We rated the practice as good for providing well-led services because:

• The leadership, governance and culture of the practice promoted the delivery of high quality person-centred care.
• Staff told us that they felt supported and that management teams were visible and responsive to concerns.
• Key policies were accessible to all staff.

There were areas where the provider should make improvements:

• Continue to monitor and improve clinical indicators and ensure reviews are completed.
• Explore how the uptake of cancer screening could be improved.
• Continue to encourage patients to join a patient participation group.
• Improve levels of patient satisfaction in particular, those in relation to being treated with kindness, respect and compassion and also in relation to access.
• Continue to ensure patient safety by completing regular fire drills and completing a security risk assessment.

Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BS BM BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care

Updated 4 April 2019

Updated 4 April 2019

Updated 4 April 2019

Updated 4 April 2019

Updated 4 April 2019

Updated 4 April 2019