- GP practice
Linden Medical Group
Report from 18 July 2024 assessment
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the following Regulated Activities: • Diagnostic and screening procedures • Family Planning • Maternity and Midwifery Services • Surgical Procedures • Treatment of Diseases, Disorders or Injury Linden Medical Group provides care for approximately 17,000 patients. The service covers Kettering town, Barton Seagrave, Cranford, Geddington, Grafton Underwood, Isham, Pytchley, Warkton and Weekley. The practice holds a General Medical Services contract, a nationally agreed contract and is situated within Northamptonshire Integrated Care System (ICS). Linden Medical Group provides care from two premises. The main surgery is Linden Medical Centre and branch surgery is Ise Medical Centre. We carried out an announced focused assessment in September 2024. Remote interviews and evidence assessment took place between 9 and 24 September 2024 and an onsite assessment was undertaken on 16 September 2024. We carried out the assessment as the service had not been assessed since we reviewed the information and data available to us about Linden Medical Group on 6 July 2023. At the time of our review back in July 2023 we did not find evidence that we need to reassess the rating at that stage; therefore, we continued to monitor information about this service. Overall, the practice is rated as Good. Key questions, Safe, Responsive and Well-Led are rated Good. Quality statements within the effective key questions were not all viewed as part of this assessment; therefore, legacy outstanding rating for effective remains in place. As part of this inspection we did not assess caring key question.
People's experience of this service
We recognise the pressure that practices are currently working under, and the efforts staff are making to maintain levels of access for their patients. We recognise the work that GP practices have been engaged in to continue to provide safe, quality care to the people they serve. We know staff are carrying this out whilst the demand for general practice remains exceptionally high, with more appointments being provided than ever. However, this challenging context, access to general practice remains a concern for people. Our strategy makes a commitment to deliver regulation driven by people’s needs and experiences of care. The assessment of the quality statement equity of access includes looking at what practices are doing innovatively to improve patient access to primary care and sharing this information to drive improvement. National GP Patient Survey results from the 2024 survey carried out between 01/01/2024 to 30/04/2024 showed patient satisfaction was mixed with some scores above local and national averages. For example, patients were satisfied with the ease of contacting the practice using their website, choice of location when trying to make an appointment and the ease of contacting the practice using the NHS App. Satisfaction scores where patients experience was below local and national averages related to respondents’ overall experience of the practice, appointment waiting times and choice of appointment time. Feedback gathered during our engagement with Linden Medical Group patient participation group (PPG) as part of this assessment was more positive. For example, PPG described actions taken to improve patient satisfaction such as re-introduction of touch pads for patients to check in for appointments upon arrival, recruitment of GPs has positively impacted on waiting times and the introduction of a new phone system supported improvements to patients’ satisfaction with access.