Hedge End Medical Centre

Updated 21 January 2016

Hedge End Medical Centre, 24-28 Lower Northam Road, Hedge End, Southampton, SO30 4FQ

The practice has an NHS Personal Medical Services contract to provide health services which they deliver to approximately 13400 patients in and around the Hedge End area of Southampton. The practice is a member of a federation of five local practices and hosts TADIC (the teenage drop in centre), a charity which offers sexual health, counselling and various other services to teenagers, not just registered with the practice.

Hedge End Medical Centre is a training practice and at the time of our visit had a registrar and FY2 doctors training at the practice.

The practice is open between 8.00am and 6.30pm Monday to Friday. Appointments are available from 08.30am to 6.00pm. Extended hours surgeries were offered with the GP or nurse on alternate Monday and Thursday evenings from 6:30pm to 8:00pm and every other Saturday morning from 09:00am – 12:00. Urgent appointments were also available for people who needed them. Routine appointments could be made well in advance usually up to five weeks in advance and telephone appointments up to one week in advance. Appointments could be made by phone, on line or by visiting the practice.

The practice offers online booking of appointments and requesting prescriptions.

The practice has opted out of providing out-of-hours services to their own patients and refers them to the Out of Hours service via the NHS 111 service.

The practice has seven GP partners, four male and three female, and two salaried GPs one male part time and one female, who is currently on maternity leave. The practice currently has a three month locum male GP. The practice has seven practice nurses and one health care assistant. The GPs and the nursing staff are supported by a practice manager, a data manager, a reception manager and a team of 21 administration staff who carry out administration, reception, scanning documents and secretarial duties.

Updated 21 January 2016

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Hedge End Medical Centre on 11 November 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and an effective system in place for reporting and recording significant events.
• Risks to patients were assessed and managed.
• Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance. Staff had the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• Patients said that there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the Duty of Candour.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

• The practice should ensure its system for storing and monitoring staff records is reviewed to confirm they are able to identify training needs for its staff and that staff are conducting the training at the relevant times.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 21 January 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of people with long-term conditions.

• Nursing staff had lead roles in chronic disease management and patients at risk of hospital admission were identified as a priority.

• The practice was comparable to other practices with regards to diabetes indicators.

• Longer appointments and home visits were available when needed.

• All these patients had a named GP and a structured annual review to check that their health and medicines needs were being met. For those people with the most complex needs, the named GP worked with relevant health and care professionals to deliver a multidisciplinary package of care.

Updated 21 January 2016

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, for example, children and young people who had a high number of A&E attendances. Immunisation rates were relatively high 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, and we saw evidence to confirm this.

• The practice’s uptake for the cervical screening programme was 87.02%, which was higher than the CCG average of 81.88%.

• 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.

• The practice hosted TADIC (the teenage drop in centre), a charity which offers sexual health, counselling and various other services to teenagers, not just registered with the practice.

Updated 21 January 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of older people.

• The practice offered proactive, personalised care to meet the needs of the older people in its population.

• It was responsive to the needs of older people, and offered home visits and urgent appointments for those with enhanced needs.

Updated 21 January 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of working-age people (including those recently retired and students).

• The needs of the working age population, those recently retired and students had been identified and the practice had adjusted the services it offered to ensure these were accessible, flexible and offered continuity of care.

• The practice was proactive in offering online services as well as a full range of health promotion and screening that reflects the needs for this age group.

• Extended hours surgeries were offered with the GP or nurse on alternate Monday and Thursday evenings from 6:30pm to 8:00pm and every other Saturday morning from 09:00am – 12:00.

Updated 21 January 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia).

• 88.99% of people diagnosed with dementia had had their care reviewed in a face to face meeting in the preceding 12 months.

• 95.71% of people with schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder and other psychoses had a comprehensive, agreed care plan documented in the record, in the preceding 12 months.

• 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 advance care planning for patients with dementia.

• The practice had told patients experiencing poor mental health about how to access various support groups and voluntary organisations.

• It had a system in place to follow up patients who had attended accident and emergency where they may have been experiencing poor mental health.

• Staff had a good understanding of how to support people with mental health needs and dementia.

Updated 21 January 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable.

• The practice held a register of patients living in vulnerable circumstances including homeless people and those with a learning disability.

• It offered longer appointments for people with a learning disability.

• The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of vulnerable people.

• It had told vulnerable patients about how to access various support groups and voluntary organisations.

• Staff knew how 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 in normal working hours and out of hours.