Vauxhall Primary Health Care

On this page

• Overview
• Learning culture
• Safe systems, pathways and transitions
• Safeguarding
• Involving people to manage risks
• Safe environments
• Safe and effective staffing
• Infection prevention and control
• Medicines optimisation

We assessed 2 quality statements from this key question. We have combined the scores for these areas with scores based on the rating from the last inspection, which was good. Our rating for this key question remains good. We found the practice monitored and reviewed safety using information from a variety of sources. Appropriate systems for the safe management of medicines including emergency medicines and equipment were in place. We reviewed patients’ clinical records and found some patients' were overdue monitoring.

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

We did not look at Learning culture during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Safe.

Patients we spoke with told us they felt supported but were not always listened to. For example, the appointment system. We raised this with the provider who agreed this was not quite right and would review this as part of their sustainability plan going forward.

Staff told us they enjoyed working at the practice and felt supported by colleagues and leaders. Staff were engaged in making holistic improvements for patients and were centred around serving the community. Leaders told us they were reviewing the service provision as part of a succession plan. This included a holistic approach working with other professionals to support patients.

Partners told us the practice had received funding for modern general practice transition and were part of the NHSE telephony migration project to upgrade the current analogue telephone system to a new cloud-based telephony system. They had no concerns about the practice.

We found the triage appointment process was not followed consistently and was completed based on individual experience of the telephone staff. We raised this with the provider who told us this would be reviewed. We found some patients had not had the appropriate monitoring such as blood tests for medicines they were prescribed. This was raised with the provider who reviewed their monitoring protocols and made changes to ensure patients were followed up if they did not respond to monitoring requests.

We did not look at Safeguarding during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Safe.

We did not look at Involving people to manage risks during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Safe.

We did not look at Safe environments during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Safe.

We did not look at Safe and effective staffing during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Safe.

We did not look at Infection prevention and control during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Safe.

Patients we spoke to told us they were able to order prescriptions in a timely manner. Patients told us they felt supported by staff and had medication reviews to ensure medicines were appropriate.

Staff told us they supported patients to order prescriptions in a timely manner. Leaders told us there were systems and processes in place to support the safe prescribing of medicines. We found all patients had been invited to have appropriate monitoring, such as blood tests but some patients had not accepted. Leaders told us this would be addressed to ensure patients were monitored and that their medicines were prescribed safely.

As part of the assessment, we reviewed emergency medicine and equipment. We found appropriate emergency medicines, equipment and signage was in place. A risk assessment had been completed for emergency medicine to ensure appropriate medicines were stocked. The practice completed checks on the emergency equipment and expiry dates to ensure new stocks were ordered when needed.

There were clear systems and processes to support patient care, respond to safety alerts and medicine recalls. The practice had support from the primary care network pharmacy team, who completed audits and reviews on patient care. Clinical staff worked within their scope of practice for prescribing and were supported and supervised by medical staff.

Staff took steps to ensure they prescribed medicines appropriately to optimise care outcomes. We saw people were prescribed higher than average amounts of Pregabalin and Gabapentin. The practice monitored these patients and were working with the local pain team to support patients and reduce doses where possible. Patients who had complex medical conditions were reviewed and signposted for support for diet and lifestyle advice to improve health outcomes. This had been successful for patients with complex diabetes. Their blood sugar levels had stabilised and less medication was required.