Archived: Nursery Lane Medical Centre

Updated 16 July 2015

Nursery Lane Surgery is located on the outskirts of Halifax. The practice is part of Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and responsible for providing services for approximately 7,434 patients under the general medical services (GMS) contract with NHS England. The practice catchment area is classed as within the group of the most deprived areas in England.

Nursery Lane Surgery is a branch surgery of Lister Lane Surgery. Boothtown Surgery is also a branch of Lister Lane. They have one single patient list, so patients can be seen at any location depending on which is more convenient for them. The partnership has three GP partners (two male and one female), one female salaried GP and one female locum GP. Two GPs rotate between the three locations. They are supported by one practice nurse at Nursery Lane. Each surgery has its own practice manager and reception staff.

We visited Nursery Lane Surgery and Lister Lane Surgery on the day of our inspection.

Nursery Lane and Lister Lane Surgeries are open from 8am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday. Extended opening was available at Lister Lane Surgery on Monday evenings until 8pm. Boothtown Surgery was open from 6.40am on Thursday mornings. GPs' offered telephone triage to those patients requesting an urgent appointment

Nursery Lane Surgery is registered to provide: diagnostic and screening procedures and the treatment of disease, disorder or injury from Nursery Lane Medical Centre, Nursery Lane, Halifax, HX3 5TE.

Updated 16 July 2015

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Nursery Lane Surgery on 21 April 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing well-led, effective, caring and responsive services. It was also good for providing services for all the population groups. It required improvement for providing safe services.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and to report incidents and near misses. Information about safety was recorded, monitored, appropriately reviewed and addressed.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff had received training appropriate to their roles and any further training needs had been identified and planned.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• Staff felt supported by management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
• Risks to patients were not always assessed and well managed. The practice did not have an infection control audit or fire assessment completed in the last 12 months.
• Not all staff were aware who took the lead for infection control.

The areas where the provider must make improvements are:

• Ensure an infection control audit is completed and action plan implemented in accordance with the findings.
• Ensure a fire assessment of the premises is completed and action plan implemented in accordance with the findings.

In addition the provider should:

• Review the storage of medicines to ensure they are stored safely and securely and a stock list is kept.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 16 July 2015

The practice is rated as good for people with long term conditions. Nursing 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 their health and medication needs were being met. 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 16 July 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 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 16 July 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of older people. Nationally reported data showed 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.

Updated 16 July 2015

The practice is rated as good for 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 reflected the needs for this age group.

Updated 16 July 2015

The practice is rated as good for people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia). Ninety three percent of people experiencing poor mental health had received an annual physical health check. The practice regularly worked with multidisciplinary 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.

Staff showed us details of various support groups and voluntary organisations which they shared with patients’. There was 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 attended information sessions on how to care for people with mental health needs and dementia.

Updated 16 July 2015

The practice is rated as good for people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable. The practice held a register of patients living in vulnerable circumstances including homeless people, travellers and those with a learning disability. It had carried out annual health checks for people with a learning disability and all of these patients had received a follow-up. It offered longer appointments for people with a learning disability.

The practice regularly worked with multidisciplinary 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.