Dell Medical Centre

Updated 29 November 2017

Dell Medical is located in Grays, Essex. The practicehas a general medical services (GMS) contract with the NHS.

• There are approximately 4500 patients registered at the practice.

• The practice provides services at 111 Orsett Road, Grays, Essex, RM17 5HB and has a branch surgery that patients can access at Stanford Surgery, 19 Wharf Road, Stanford-le-Hope, Essex, SS17 0BZ. The branch surgery was not visited on this inspection.

• The practice is registered with the Care Quality Commission as a partnership, with two GP partners. There is a practice manager and an assistant practice manager and seven administration members of staff who cover reception and clerical duties during the working week covering a variety of different hours. There is a practice nurse and reception staff in each surgery. District nurses, Health Visitors, Midwife and Community Psychiatric nurses work closely with the practice and can be contacted via the receptionist. Both surgeries have access for disabled patients

• The practice is open from Monday to Friday between the hours of 8am and 6.30pm. On a Thursday afternoon the practice closes, however a GP is available at the branch surgery for those patients that need to be seen.

• The GP surgeries are available on Monday to Friday mornings between 9am and 11am, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons between 3pm and 5pm. On Monday the practice have extended hours with nurse and GP appointments available from 3.30pm to 7.50pm. Thursday afternoon the practice is open for emergencies only. Wednesday evening and weekend appointments are available at a local surgery. Patients at this practice are able to book in advance, a limited number of consultations. This is a facility shared by several other practices in the local area.

• The practice has opted out of providing 'out of hours’ services which is now provided by the South Essex Emergency Doctors Service. Patients can also contact the non-emergency 111 service to obtain medical advice if necessary.

• The practice list has a higher than average number of patients over 45 years of age and lower than average number of patients below 14 years of age compared with national and local averages.

Updated 29 November 2017

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

This practice is rated as Good overall.

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 comprehensive inspection at Dell Medical Centre on 2 November 2017. We carried out a comprehensive inspection of this service 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

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.

• Appropriate recruitment checks were carried out and there was current registrations with their professional bodies were applicable.

• Staff had received mandatory training applicable to their role.

• There was sufficient and appropriate equipment for use in the treatment of patients, including in the event of a medical emergency and the equipment was calibrated to ensure it was working correctly.

• There was a comprehensive business continuity plan in place in the event of an emergency taking place that disrupted the services to patients.

• Boxes of prescriptions were stored securely however on the day of inspection were not tracked through the practiceThe practice forwarded copies of new monitoring forms to be used to track the prescriptions following the inspection.

• The practice sought and acted on feedback from staff, patients and had listened and responded to surveys completed.

• The practice was clean and tidy and staff had reviewed infection prevention control and policies.

• Patient safety and medicine alerts were shared amongst the clinical team and consistently actioned and a record and log was maintained.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Ensure there is a process to identify carers to enable support and advice to be offered to those that require it.

• Implement the procedure to ensure prescriptions are tracked throughout the practice.

• Review the procedure to ensure that fridge temperatures are checked and emergency equipment checks are completed in line with the practice protocol.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice