Archived: Coxhoe Medical Practice

Updated 15 October 2015

Coxhoe Medical Practice has a General Medical Services contract and also offers enhanced services for example; extended hours. It is situated in a village in County Durham. The practice covers the villages of Coxhoe, Cassop, Quarrington Hill and Bowburn. The practice is situated in a housing estate and has limited car park facilities. There are 6294 patients on the practice list and the majority of patients are of white British background.

The practice is a partnership with three partners (two male and one female). There is an Advanced Nurse Practitioner, 2 Practice Nurses, a Health Care assistant and a phlebotomist . All nursing staff are female. There is a Practice Manager and reception and administration staff.

The practice is open between 8.30am and 6pm Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8.30am and 4pm Wednesdays and 8.30am and 5.30pm Fridays. Extended hours surgeries are offered on Thursday evenings 6.30pm until 7.20pm and every Saturday 8am until 12.20pm.

Patients requiring a GP outside of normal working hours are advised to contact the GP out of hour’s service provided by North Durham CCG.

Updated 15 October 2015

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Coxhoe Medical Practice on 11 August 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• 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 was available and easy to understand.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment, although not with a named GP. There were urgent and routine appointments available the same day for GPs and Nurses.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
• The Practice Nurses had recently received an award for excellent practice in smoking cessation results.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 15 October 2015

GOOD

The practice is rated as good for the care of 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 that 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 15 October 2015

GOOD

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. The practice had adopted a toolkit to be used with children presenting with injuries – this ensured that a referral to other services was made if necessary. Immunisation rates were relatively high for all standard childhood immunisations. 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 15 October 2015

GOOD

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

Updated 15 October 2015

GOOD

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 15 October 2015

GOOD

The practice is rated as good for the care of people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia). 90% 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 15 October 2015

GOOD

The practice is rated as good for the care of people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable. It had carried out annual health checks for people with a learning disability. We were told that patients from The Travelling community access the practice and the practice is flexible and accommodating with appointments.

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.