• Doctor
  • GP practice

Highfield Surgery

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Cambrian Way, Hemel Hempstead, HP2 5TA (01442) 265322

Provided and run by:
Highfield Surgery

Important: This service was previously registered at a different address - see old profile

Latest inspection summary

On this page

Background to this inspection

Updated 15 September 2023

Highfield Surgery is located in a purpose built health centre at Cambrian Way, Hemel Hempstead

HP2 5TA.

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

The practice is situated within the Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB) and delivers General Medical Services (GMS) to a patient population of about 7,100. This is part of a contract held with NHS England.

The practice is part of a wider network of GP practices within the Dacorum Primary Care Network (PCN). PCNs are groups of practices working together to focus on local patient care. The practice provides training to doctors studying to become GPs and student nurses.

Information published by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the fifth lowest decile (5 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 6.9% Asian, 85.7% White, 4.5% Black, 2.5% Mixed, and 0.4% Other.

The age distribution of the practice population closely mirrors the local and national averages. There are slightly more young people and slightly fewer older people.

The practice has a team of 2 GP partners (1 male and 1 female), 2 salaried female GPs and a female regular GP locum, 1 advanced nurse practitioner, 1 practice nurse and 1 healthcare assistant. They provide clinical services at the practice. The practice has access to long term locum GP cover for consistency and agency staff for nursing cover.

The GPs are supported at the practice by a team of administration, reception and secretarial staff. The practice manager provides managerial oversight.

Patients of Highfield Surgery are also supported by staff through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS). These include 2 clinical pharmacists, a social prescriber, a care coordinator and 2 physiotherapists who are employed by and support the whole PCN.

The practice is open between 8am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays. Appointments are available from 8am to 6.30pm. The practice offers a range of appointment types including face-to-face and telephone consultations. Home visits are available for patients who are unable to go to the practice.

Patients are able to access additional GP Appointments through the Dacorum Extended Access service. When the practice is closed, patients can access support, treatment and advice from the NHS 111 service.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 15 September 2023

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Highfield Surgery on 10 August 2023. Overall, the practice is rated as good.

Safe - Good

Effective - Good

Caring - Good

Responsive - Good

Well-led - Good

Following our previous inspection on 18 January 2017, the practice was rated good overall and for all key questions. Since this time the practice has moved location.

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Highfield Surgery on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Whwe carried out this inspection

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

How we carried out the inspection

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 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
  • information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.

We have rated this practice as Good overall.

We found that:

  • The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
  • Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
  • Staff dealt with patients with kindness, respect and compassion and involved them in decisions about their care.
  • Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
  • There was compassionate, inclusive and effective leadership and effective processes for managing risks, issues and performance.

Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:

  • Continue to strengthen the systems of accountability to support good governance and management, including processes to monitor and record staff training and appraisals, keep all staff up-to-date with the practice's training and appraisal requirements and to ensure competence of staff employed in advanced clinical practice.
  • Embed identified improvements in processes for assessing and monitoring patients and medicines, including safety alerts and missed diagnoses, in line with guidance.

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