- GP practice
Dr C D Lenton & Partners Also known as Ashfield Surgery
Report from 16 February 2024 assessment
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
The practice is registered with CQC under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 to provide the following regulated activities: diagnostic and screening procedures, family planning, midwifery and maternity services, surgical procedures and treatment of disease, disorder or injury. We carried out an announced focussed assessment of 19 quality statements, under the safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led key questions between 15 April 2024 and 10 May 2024. This assessment was carried out in response to concerns we had received, to help us understand how the practice identified and managed risk and performance related issues and what the practice was doing to try to meet patient demand and the current experience of people who use this service. When people raised concerns about safety and ideas to improve, leaders used this information to learn and improve. However, there was not always evidence that solutions to risks were developed collaboratively with all staff. Patients were supported to make choices that balanced risks of harm with positive choices about their lives. However, there was not always enough skilled staff to deliver safe care that promoted choice and control for patients and wellbeing of staff. There was also poor organisation and management of non-clinical roles for clinical staff. People were treated with kindness, empathy and compassion. Their privacy and dignity was respected. The provider was aware that people could not always access services when they needed to and was taking appropriate action to improve access to services. However, further improvements were needed to ensure equity in access for all patients. We found a breach of the legal regulations in relation to governance. Systems were not effective in identifying, mitigating and monitoring risk related to staff recruitment, storage and monitoring of medicines and infection prevention and control. We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found.
People's experience of this service
The 2023 GP patient survey showed that while patient satisfaction with telephone and appointment access had improved from the previous year (2022), including improved satisfaction with the type of appointment offered and the appointment times available. Patient satisfaction with how easy people found it to access the practice by telephone remained poor. The survey showed a negative variation when compared with other GP practices. Feedback from 7 people to CQC was negative about accessing the practice by telephone or in making an appointment. The practice had received 23 reviews on the NHS website between March 2023 and February 2024. Of these reviews, 15 were negative about telephone and/or appointment access. The 2023 GP patient survey data showed that patient satisfaction with their overall experience of the practice and how well they felt listened to by the healthcare professional had improved, and satisfaction with being treated with care and concern by the healthcare professional and being involved in decisions about their care and treatment remained high. The practice collected patient feedback including through the friends and family test. Between June 2023 and March 2024, 8889 patients had responded to the survey. Of those responding, 74% had commented that their overall experience was very good and 17% good. The practice had identified that patient satisfaction was particularly poor in appointment availability and long waiting times, and other people had expressed their dissatisfaction with getting repeat prescriptions and unhelpful staff. The patient participation group (PPG) had carried out a survey in October 2023. Results showed that mostly patients had commented that staff were kind and helpful. Areas for improvement included better telephone and appointment access. Patients we spoke with during this assessment told us that telephone and appointment access was not always easy; however, people were positive about staff who worked at the practice.