Station Road Surgery

We carried out an announced comprehensive at Station Road Surgery on 3 August 2023. Overall, the practice is rated as good.

Safe – good

Effective - good

Caring - good

Responsive - good

Well-led - good

Why we carried out this inspection

We carried out this inspection in line with our inspection priorities. This was the first inspection of this provider since they registered with the Care Quality Commission.

How we carried out the inspection

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site.

This included:

• Conducting staff interviews in person and using video conferencing facilities.
• Staff questionnaires sent ahead of the inspection.
• Speaking with patients by telephone.
• Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system (this was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements).
• Reviewing patient records to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider.
• Requesting evidence from the provider.
• A short site visit.

Our findings

We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service 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.

We found that:

• The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
• The practice was committed to the implementation of the NHS delivery plan for recovering access to primary care. They had implemented a total triage system and signposting where appropriate.
• The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.
• The practice carried out regular audit and improvement activity to monitor and improve the service.
• All staff working at the practice felt supported by the clinical and management team.

Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:

• Review and improve the infection, prevention and control policy.
• Continue with plans to address the backlog of summarising of patient records.
• Improve processes for the follow up of patients who were prescribed oral steroids for an asthma exacerbation, in line with NICE guidance.
• Review and improve processes for medicines that require monitoring, to capture all monitoring checks in one review.

We saw areas of outstanding practice:

Patients had access to education videos produced by one of the salaried GPs at the practice. The videos covered a wide range of topics including:

• advice on the shingles vaccine
• managing viral illnesses
• urgent cancer referrals
• breast lumps
• managing coughs and colds
• baby feeding
• mindfulness and meditation
• gut health
• intermittent fasting.

The videos provided advice such as self-care and when to seek medical advice. This was an ongoing project with videos being produced in response to local need. The videos were sent to patients as required but were also accessible via the practice website and for the wider population via a social media platform.

Men’s health drop-in clinics were offered at the practice. The clinics enabled men to access health checks, screening and advice. The first session had been attended by 55 patients and this led to a number of new diagnoses including diabetes, hypertension, prostate problems, mental health issues and respiratory conditions. The practice planned to hold further events to continue this work.

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