- GP practice
Lighthouse Group Practice
Report from 9 September 2024 assessment
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
The Lighthouse Group Practice is a GP practice that provides a range of primary medical services at two sites, Southsea Medical Centre, Carlisle Road, Portsmouth, PO5 1AT and a branch site at Devonshire Avenue Surgery, Portsmouth, PO4 9EH. This announced assessment was undertaken between 25 and 26 September 2024. We carried out our on-site visit on 26 September 2024. We undertook this assessment in response to concerns we received about the practice’s recruitment processes to ensure staff had been suitably recruited to include criminal records checks in line with Schedule 3 of Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. We assessed 2 quality statements under the key questions of Safe and Well-led: Safe and effective staffing and Governance, management and sustainability. We identified gaps in recruitment records for staff members we reviewed during our on-site visit. Clinical competencies were not always obtained at the time staff were recruited to ensure staff were suitably qualified for the role. We found there was a lack of regular documented clinical supervision for non-medical prescribers and healthcare professionals instigated by supervisors in line with practice policy. This resulted in a breach of regulation in relation to; governance. These shortfalls had not been identified by the practice’s internal quality monitoring systems. We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at the assessment. We found the practice had responded to business and clinical risks as recorded within the risk register and improvement planning. However, the practice had effective business continuity plans, complied with information governance requirements and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Staff were able to raise queries or concerns and there were processes in place for the practice to appropriately respond to patient feedback. You can find more details of our concerns in the evidence category findings.
People's experience of this service
People could feed back their experience of the service via Working Feedback, which incorporated Friends and Family Test (FFT) information. We reviewed patient feedback from August 2024 and found 2027 feedback invitations had been sent with 51 completed submissions. We identified examples of positive feedback relating to staff such as clinicians listened to people and provided good quality care and treatment. Both clinical and administrative staff were described as professional and friendly. The practice was able to demonstrate themes that reflected the way the practice managed rotas and staff cover arrangements. The practice had recommenced working the Patient Participation Group (PPG) to outline how they planned to review and respond to feedback themes. The practice had plans to improve the service for people by involving the PPG with projects such as developing frequently asked questions (FAQ) guidance. This included access to services and how different types of staff would be involved in care and treatment.