Archived: Carpenters Practice

Updated 22 March 2018

Carpenters Practice is run by Lantern Health CIC – a Community Interest Company (Social Enterprise). It operates from purpose-built premises at 236-252 High Street, Stratford London E15 2JA, having moved from a nearby location which it shared with community groups. The practice provides NHS primary medical services through an Alternative Provider Medical Services (APMS) contract to approximately 14,100 patients. An APMS contract is an alternative to the standard GMS contract used when services are agreed locally with a practice and may include additional services beyond the standard contract.

Carpenters Practice is located within the Newham local authority and is one of 51 practices serving the NHS Newham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) area.

In addition to this location which has 4,800 patients, Carpenters Practice has two nearby branch surgeries known as Church Road (7,150 patients) and St Lukes (2,150 patients).

The practice is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to provide the regulated activities of diagnostic and screening procedures, family planning, maternity and midwifery services and treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

The practice provides a number of enhanced services (enhanced services require an enhanced level of service provision above what is normally required under the core GP contract) including extended hours and learning disability health checks.

The practice staff comprises of four female salaried GPs (totalling 22 sessions per week), a male salaried GP (eight sessions per week), eight locum GPs (44 sessions per week), a practice nurse (28 hours per week), two Health Care Assistants (57 hours per week) a part time Business Manager, a full time Practice Manager and twenty admin/reception staff.

The practice’s opening hours are 8am to 6:30pm Monday to Friday and appointments with doctors and nurses are available throughout the day. The practice offers extended hours appointments between 6:30pm and 8pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The practice has opted out of providing an out-of-hours service. When closed, calls are forwarded to the local out-of-hours service provider. Information regarding this is given on the practice website and the practice leaflet, together with details of the NHS 111 service.

Appointments can be booked online, some being available the next day. Urgent appointments are also available for patients who need them. The practice has opted out of providing an out-of-hours service. Patients telephoning when the practice is closed are transferred automatically to the local out-of-hours service provider.

The practice had a lower percentage of patients aged over 65 years than the national average (3.6% compared to 17%), a higher percentage of unemployed patients (9% compared to 5%) and a lower percentage of patients with a long standing health condition (44% compared to 54%).

Seventy Three percent of the registered practice population were from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups with the remaining 27% being white.

Information published by Public Health England rates the level of deprivation within the practice population group as second on a scale of one to ten. Level one represents the highest levels of deprivation and level ten the lowest.

Lantern Health CIC has a Chief Executive Officer who is a GP and the Registered Manager. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Updated 22 March 2018

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

This practice is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspection 26 May 2015 – Good)

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? - Good

As part of our inspection process, we also look at the quality of care for specific population groups. The population groups are rated as:

Older People – Good

People with long-term conditions – Good

Families, children and young people – Good

Working age people (including those recently retired and students – Good

People whose circumstances may make them vulnerable – Good

People experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia) - Good

We carried out an announced inspection at Carpenters Practice on 25 January 2018 under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. The inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014 as part of our inspection programme.

At this inspection we found:

• The practice had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the practice learned from them and improved their processes.
• The practice routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.
• Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• Patients found the appointment system easy to use and reported that they were able to access care when they needed it.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Consider ways in which to establish an active Patient Participation Group.
• Review the results of the National GP Patient Survey and look at ways to improve performance as regards local and national averages.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 12 November 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people with long-term conditions. Staff had lead roles in chronic disease management and patients at risk of hospital admission were identified as a priority. 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 medication needs were being met. Eighty-six per cent of patients with diabetes had received an annual foot check and 62% a retinal check.

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 12 November 2015

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. 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.

Updated 12 November 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of older people. Data showed that outcomes for patients were good for conditions commonly found in older people. The practice offered proactive, personalised care to meet the needs of the older people in its population and had a range of enhanced services, for example, in dementia and end of life care. It was responsive to the needs of older people, and offered home visits and rapid access appointments for those with enhanced needs. Eighty-eight per cent of older patients had received structured annual medication reviews for polypharmacy. All patients aged over 75 had been informed of their named GP.

Updated 12 November 2015

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.

Updated 12 November 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia). Data showed that 85% of people experiencing poor mental health had received an annual physical health check. 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 (A&E) where they may have been experiencing poor mental health. Staff had received training on how to care for people with mental health needs and dementia.

Updated 12 November 2015

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 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.