Archived: Eldene Surgery

Updated 24 April 2018

Eldene Surgery www.eldenesurgery.com is an urban GP practice providing primary care services to patients resident in Swindon. The provider is registered to deliver services from Colingsmead

Swindon Wiltshire SN3 3TQ. It is one of the practices within the NHS Swindon Clinical Commissioning Group and has approximately 7,800 patients. Data from Public Health England shows that the practice has a similar to local and national figures for all age groups. This data also shows that that 8% of the population within the area are of unemployed status compared to a local figure of 4% and a national figure of 5%. The practice has a relatively high proportion (10%) of patients who have English as a second language.

The practice is managed by four GP partners, three male and one female. Within the last 12 months a partnership has been entered into with Integrated Medical Holdings (IMH) where two GPs have joined the partnership. They are not based at the practice and do not do clinical work in the practice, but offer managerial and clinical leadership. The practice also employs a female salaried GP. In order to try and meet patient needs, locum nurses and GPs are regularly employed. The partners are supported by a nurse specialising in respiratory problems, and two health care assistants. The nursing team are led by a nurse employed by IMH who attends the practice three times a week. The administrative team is led by an assistant practice manager on a daily basis and a practice manager employed by IMH who attends the practice twice a week. The practice is a teaching and training practice for doctors wishing to specialise in general practice.

The practice premises are open between 8.30am and 12.30pm and from 1.30pm to 6pm Monday to Friday. Between 8am to 8.30am, 12.30pm to 1.30pm and 6pm to 6.30pm the practice’s telephone lines are closed. An answerphone message instructs patients to call a mobile telephone number which is held by the duty doctor. Outside of these hours and when the practice is closed patients are directed via an answerphone to contact NHS111. Out of hours services are provided by Medvivo.

The practice has a General Medical Services contract to deliver health care services. This contract acts as the basis for arrangements between Swindon Clinical Commissioning group and the practice for the provision of medical services.

Updated 24 April 2018

This practice is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspection 15 September and 3 October 2017 Requires Improvement )

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 Eldene Surgery on 20 March 2018. When we undertook a comprehensive inspection of Eldene Surgery in September 2017 we found areas of concern. The practice was rated as Good for Caring, and Requires Improvement for Safe, Effective, Responsive and Well led. The practice had submitted an action plan detailing the actions they were taking to meet legal requirements. All reports for the practice can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Eldene Surgery on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This report covers the comprehensive inspection we carried out at Eldene Surgery on 20 March 2018 to check whether the practice had completed the actions they told us they would take to comply with all regulations.

At this inspection we found:

• The practice had 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. The practice had a comprehensive programme of clinical audit which drove quality improvements.
• The practice had initiated a process whereby nurses attended peer review sessions with nurses from nearby practices. This enabled reflection and sharing of good practice to improve patient care.

• Comment cards received and patients spoken with, reflected that staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• The practice had taken actions to improve patient access, for example introducing additional telephone lines and employing additional staff.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Review systems and processes so that governance is consistently embedded and effective.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 24 April 2018

Updated 24 April 2018

Updated 24 April 2018

Updated 24 April 2018

Updated 24 April 2018

Updated 24 April 2018