Pendle View Medical Centre

Updated 3 March 2016

Pendle View Medical Centre is part of the NHS East Lancashire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). Services are provided under a personal medical service (PMS) contract with NHS England. The practice has 6679 patients on their list (as at 1 January 2016). The practice is located in a residential area of Nelson, Lancashire.

Information published by Public Health England rates the level of deprivation within the practice area as four on a scale of one to ten. Level one represents the highest levels of deprivation and level ten the lowest. Life expectancy in the practice geographical area is below the England average for males at 77 years and 81 years for females (England average 79 and 83 years respectively).

The proportion of the practice population aged 65 years and over is 24% which higher than the England average of 16.7%. The percentage of patients aged 75 years is also higher at 10.8% when compared to the England average of 7.6%. However, the percentage of patients aged less than 18 years is lower than the England average at 12.1% compared to 14.8%.

The practice has four GP partners (two male and two female), a salaried GP and a sessional GP (both male). The practice employs a practice manager, an assistant practice manager, two practice nurses, one healthcare assistant (HCA), one phlebotomist/trainee HCA and seven reception and administrative staff.

The practice is a training practice for qualified doctors who are training to be a GP.

The practice opens between 8.00am and 6.30pm Monday to Friday. Extended hours for patients are offered until 8pm on Wednesdays, urgent appointments are also available for people that need them. The practice also offers an open surgery from 5.00pm each day and we were told that this period was open ended based on demand. Staff told us the open sessions had been very popular particularly for parents of young families and patients suffering from mental health issues or drug addiction who find planning appointments in advance to be challenging.

Out of Hours services are provided by East Lancashire Medical Services and contacted by telephoning NHS 111.

The practice provides online access for patients to book appointments and order prescriptions.

In October 2015 the practice achieved the Royal College of General Practitioners Quality Practice Award.  The Quality Practice Award is a standards based quality accreditation process designed to improve patient care by encouraging and supporting practices to deliver the very highest quality care to their patients. The Award recognises the commitment of the practice team in providing high quality care.

Updated 3 March 2016

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Pendle View Medical Centre on 12th January 2016. 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 generally received training appropriate to their roles and 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 but some told us they could not always get an appointment with their named GP.The practice had recognised this issue and had taken action to ensure 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.

• 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.

We saw two areas of outstanding practice:

• In October 2015 the practice achieved the Royal College of General Practitioners Quality Practice Award.The Quality Practice Award is a standards based quality accreditation process designed to improve patient care by encouraging and supporting practices to deliver the very highest quality care to their patients.

• The practice had developed an information leaflet that used pictures to support the completion of annual health checks and care planning.This enabled those with learning difficulties to be fully involved in their own care.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

• Ensure the need for additional role specific training is assessed for individuals allocated lead responsibility for infection prevention and control.

• Take action to improve patient awareness and understanding of Out of Hours services.

• Assess the risks associated to the storage of clinical waste and ensure an asbestos risk assessment is completed for the practice building.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 3 March 2016

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.

• Performance for diabetes related indicators was better when compared to the national average.For example:

  • 96.12% of patients with diabetes had received an influenza immunisation compared to the national average of 94.45%.

  • A record of foot examination was recorded for 92.53% compared to the national average of 88.3%.

  • Patients with diabetes in whom the last blood pressure reading (measured in the preceding 12 months) is 140/80 mmHg or less was 85.83% compared to the national average of 78.03%

  • Patients with diabetes whose last measured total cholesterol (measured within the preceding 12 months) is 5 mmol/l or less was 85.01% compared to the national average of 80.53%

• 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 medicines needs were being met. For those patients with the most complex needs, the named GP worked with relevant health and care professionals to deliver a multidisciplinary package of care.

Updated 3 March 2016

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 achieved by the practice during 2015 were 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.

• Cervical screening uptake data from 2014/15 for women aged 25-64 years was 80.26%, which was comparable to the national average of 81.83%.

• Appointments were available outside of school hours and the premises were suitable for children and babies.

• We saw positive examples of joint working with midwives, health visitors and an external organisation that facilitated integration of education with childcare, family support and health services.

Updated 3 March 2016

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

• The practice offered proactive, personalised care to meet the needs of the older people in its population.

• The practice was responsive to the needs of older people, and offered home visits and urgent appointments for those with enhanced needs or identified as at risk of hospital admission. For example, the practice had a system in place to routinely identify and contact patients aged 75 years or over who had not seen a GP or nurse within a period of three months.

• There was a good uptake of seasonal influenza vaccinations for patients aged 65 and older at 78.43%, which was higher than the national average of 73.24% and all patients over 75 years of age were offered a full health needs assessment or review every 12 months.

Updated 3 March 2016

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 3 March 2016

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

• The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of people experiencing poor mental health, including those with dementia.

• The practice 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.

• The practice had a system in place to follow up patients who had attended accident and emergency where they may have been experiencing poor mental health.

• Staff had a good understanding of how to support patients with mental health needs and dementia.

Updated 3 March 2016

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, children at risk and those experiencing mental health issues.

• The practice offered longer appointments for patients with a learning disability. The practice had been an active participant in national research studies which had explored the views and experience of people with learning disabilities and carers and informed the definition of national audit standards.

• The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of vulnerable people.

• The practice informed 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.