Archived: North Petherton Surgery

Updated 23 October 2019

North Petherton Surgery is based at Mill St, North Petherton, Bridgwater TA6 6LX (a purpose-built building built in 1984). We visited this location as part of our inspection. Further information about the practice can be found at www.northpethertonsurgery.com

The Partnership is registered with the CQC in respect of the regulated activities: Diagnostic and screening procedures; Family planning; Maternity and midwifery services; Surgical procedures and Treatment of disease, disorder or injury. They provide general medical services to approximately 6,300 patients. The practice provides a medicines dispensary service.

The three GP partners (male) work alongside two salaried GPs (female). The practice team includes a nurse practitioner, three practice nurses, a practice manager and deputy, health care assistants, reception and administrative staff.

The practice catchment area is situated within one of the least deprived areas of England ranking seven (with one being the most deprived and 10 the least) within The Index of Multiple Deprivation 2015 (The index is the official measure of relative deprivation for small areas in England). The practice age profile for patients aged 65 years and over is slightly above national averages.

The practice has opted out of providing Out Of Hours services to their own patients. Patients can access a local Out Of Hours GP service via NHS 111.

Updated 23 October 2019

This practice is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspection October 2015 – Good)

The key questions are rated as:

Are services effective? Good

Are services caring? 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 focused inspection at North Petherton Surgery on 18 September 2019. We carried out an inspection of this service following our annual review of the information available to us including information provided by the practice. Our review indicated that there may have been a change to the quality of care provided since the last inspection.

This inspection focused on the following key questions: Effective, caring and well-led.

Because of the assurance received from our review of information we carried forward the ratings for the following key questions: Safe and responsive.

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.

At this inspection we found:

• The practice had clear 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 encouraged involvement in care and treatment decision making. For example, through treatment escalation plans and identification of carers.
• Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• National and local patient surveys were in line with or above national averages with patients responding positively to their experience at the practice.