Empingham Medical Centre

Updated 12 November 2015

Empingham Medical Centre is a GP practice which provides a range of primary medical services under a GMS contract to around 6105 patients from a surgery in Empingham, Rutland. The practice covers 120 square miles of villages surrounding Rutland Water.

The practice has 4 GPs (two female and two male), two salaried GPs, a practice manager, assistant practice manager, patient services manager, dispensary manager, one nurse practitioner, three practice nurses, health care assistant, five dispensers and seven reception and administrative staff.

The practice’s services are commissioned by East Leicestershire and Rutland Clinical Commissioning Group (ELR CCG). ELR CCG have full responsibility for commissioning healthcare services for residents in Blaby, Lutterworth, Market Harborough, Rutland, Melton Mowbray, Oadby and Wigston and the surrounding areas. A CCG is an organisation that brings together local GP’s and experience health professionals to take on commissioning responsibilities for local health services.

The practice is open between 8.30 am and 630pm Monday to Friday. Saturday 8am to 10.30am. Appointments can be booked by phone, in person or online. All appointments are confirmed by mobile text where possible. We found that the practice had a flexible appointment system where patients could have a longer appointment as required. The practice also gave patients appointments to suit travel arrangements. For example, if they used a bus service.

Appointments are available until 6.30pm for those patients who need to be seen on the day. Extended hours surgeries with pre-bookable appointments are available on Saturday mornings.

Home visits were available on a daily basis to those patients who were unable to attend the surgery.

The practice has a dispensary which is open 8.35am until 6.30pm. The practice dispenses medicines to 83% of patients registered.

The practice has one location registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) which is Empingham Medical Centre, Main St, Empingham, Oakham LE15 8PR

Empingham Medical Centre have opted out of providing out-of-hours services (OOH) to their own patients. The OOH service is provided to Leicester City, Leicestershire and Rutland by Central Nottinghamshire Clinical Services.

Updated 12 November 2015

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Empingham Medical Centre on 15 September 2015. 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.
• This practice was not an outlier for any QOF (or other national) clinical targets. It achieved 99.3% of the total QOF target in 2014, which was 1.6% points above CCG Average and 5.8% above national average.

• 95% of people who responded to the July 2015 national patient survey said the GP was good at listening to them compared to the CCG average of 91% and national average of 89%.

• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff had received training appropriate to their roles and any 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.
• Patients said they did not find it easy to make an appointment with a named GP. Urgent appointments were available the same day.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs. Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• The practice implemented suggestions for improvements and made changes to the way it delivered services as a consequence of feedback from patients and from the Patient Participation Group (PPG).

• The practice had a clear vision which had quality and safety as its top priority. A business plan was in place, was monitored and regularly reviewed and discussed with all staff. High standards were promoted and owned by all practice staff with evidence of team working across all roles.

We saw two areas of outstanding practice:

• The practice had increased the flexibility of access to appointments and could demonstrate the impact of this by reduced use of the GP out of hour’s service and Accident and Emergency. The practice had very positive patient survey results for July 2015.
• The practice had a Carer’s Champion. This is a member of staff who supports carer’s and acts as a key contact for carer information for the GP practice where they work. They aim to improve the carer’s quality of life and help them to continue in their caring role. They can also help ensure that the carer’s voice is heard when the person they care for is having their needs assessed or met. Carer Champions will also help improve local services by feeding back what they learn from supporting carer’s.

However there were areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

Importantly the provider should

• Have a system in place to ensure audit cycles have been completed.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 12 November 2015

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. The practice took part in admission avoidance and worked in partnership with the integrated care co-ordinator from a local council and community services from a secondary care trust. Longer appointments and home visits were available when needed. All these patients had a named GP and a structured annual review to check that their health and medication needs were being met. For those people with the most complex needs, the named GP worked with relevant health and care professionals to deliver a multidisciplinary package of care.

Updated 12 November 2015

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 for the standard childhood immunisations were comparable to CCG/national averages. The practice operated its own recall system for families, children and young people. 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. Appointments were available outside of school hours and the premises were suitable for children and babies. We saw good examples of joint working with midwives, health visitors and school nurses.

Updated 12 November 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of older people. Nationally reported data showed that outcomes for patients were higher than both the CCG and national averages for conditions commonly found in older people. The practice offered proactive, personalised care to meet the needs of the older people in its population and had a range of enhanced services, for example, in dementia and end of life care. It was responsive to the needs of older people, and offered home visits and rapid access appointments for those with enhanced needs. The practice had a named nominated GP for patients 75 plus and also took part in the admission avoidance scheme.

Updated 12 November 2015

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 12 November 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia). 100% of people experiencing poor mental health had received an annual physical health check. The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of people experiencing poor mental health, including those with dementia. 88% of people who had dementia had received an annual physical health check.

The practice had a Carer’s Champion. This was a member of staff who supports carer’s and acts as a key contact for carer information for the GP practice where they work.

The practice had told patients experiencing poor mental health about how to access various support groups and voluntary organisations. It had a system in place to follow up patients who had attended accident and emergency (A&E) where they may have been experiencing poor mental health. Staff had received training on how to care for people with mental health needs and dementia.

Updated 12 November 2015

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. 83% of people with a learning disability had received an annual health check. It also offered longer appointments for people with a learning disability.

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