Rothwell and Desborough Healthcare Group

Updated 13 March 2024

Rothwell and Desborough Healthcare Group is located in Rothwell at:

Rothwell Medical Centre

109 Desborough Road

Rothwell

Northamptonshire

NN14 6JQ

The practice has a branch surgery at:

Desborough Surgery

35 High Street

Desborough

Northamptonshire

NN14 2NB

The branch surgery was not visited as part of the inspection.

The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities, diagnostic and screening procedures, family planning, maternity and midwifery services, surgical procedures and treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

The practice offers services from both a main practice and a branch surgery. Patients can access services at either surgery.

The practice is situated within the NHS Northamptonshire Integrated Care System (ICS) and delivers General Medical Services (GMS) to a patient population of about 21,710. This is part of a contract held with NHS England.

The practice is part of a wider network of GP practices that enables them to work with other practices in the area to deliver care.

Information published by Office for Health Improvement and Disparities shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the 7th highest decile (7 of 10). The lower the decile, the more deprived the practice population is relative to others.

According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the practice area is 95% White, 2% Black, 1% Asian, 1% Mixed, and 1% Other.

The age distribution of the practice population closely mirrors the local and national averages with a higher than average number of patients over the age of 65 years.

There is a team of 12 GPs who provide cover at both practices. The practice has a nursing team consisting of 7 nurse practitioners, 3 practice nurses and 5 healthcare assistants. The clinical staff are supported at the practice by a team of reception/administration staff who are led by a practice manager and operational manager.

The practice is open between 8am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday. The branch site is open between 8am and 6pm Monday to Friday. The practice offers a range of appointment types including book on the day, telephone consultations and advance appointments.

Extended access is provided locally by The East Northants GP Extended Access Service, where late evening and weekend appointments are available.

When the practice is closed, out of hours services can be accessed via the NHS 111 service.

Updated 13 March 2024

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Rothwell and Desborough Healthcare Group on 6 September 2023. Overall, the practice is rated as requires improvement.

Safe - requires improvement

Effective - good

Caring - good

Responsive - requires improvement

Well-led - good

Following our previous inspection on 14 September 2018, the practice was rated good overall and for all key questions.

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Rothwell and Desborough Healthcare Group on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection

We carried out this inspection in line with our inspection priorities.

How we carried out the inspection/review

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site.

This included:

• Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing.
• Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system (this was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements).
• Reviewing patient records to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider.
• Requesting evidence from the provider.
• A short site visit.

Our findings

We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service on a combination of:

• what we found when we inspected
• information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services and
• information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.

We found that:

• Remote reviews of the clinical record system demonstrated that medicine reviews were not always completed comprehensively and safety alerts had not always been responded to.
• Responses to the National GP Patient Survey showed patients were less than satisfied with access to the practice and making an appointment. Whilst the practice had taken actions to make improvements it was too soon to assess the impact of these.
• The uptake for cervical screening was below the 80% target set by the UK Health Security Agency.
• The practice used significant events, audits and complaints to identify areas of learning and improvement.
• Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.

We found 1 breach of regulations. The provider must:

• Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Continue to take measures to improve the uptake of cervical screening.
• Continue to take actions to improve patient satisfaction in relation to access and appointment booking.

Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Health Care