Archived: VH Doctors Ltd - Purfleet Care Centre

Updated 18 September 2018

The practice is part of Virgin Care. It is based in an area with mixed housing and industrial buildings. The practice is the only GP service for the area and the building is shared with other community organisations, the current list size is 5991. There is an onsite car park and good transport links in the locality.

• The practice operates from a single location: Tank Hill Road, Purfleet, Essex.
• Services provided include: a range of clinics for long term conditions and health promotion and screening.
• At the time of inspection, the practice had three male GPS, one salaried and two long term locums. The GPs were supported by an all female nursing team which consists of an advanced nurse practitioner and a practice nurse.
• The non-clinical team comprises of a practice manager, reception and administrative staff.
• The practice opens between 8am and 6.30pm Monday to Friday. Appointments are offered from 8am to 12.40am and from 1.45pm to 6.20pm Monday to Friday.
• On evening, weekends and bank holidays out of hours care is provided by IC24, another healthcare provider. This can be accessed by patients dialling 111.
• Thurrock Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has a weekend system called ‘Thurrock Health Hubs’. Patients are able to book through the practice to see either a doctor or a nurse between 9.15am and 12.30pm at the weekend, at one of four ‘hub’ locations.
• The practice has a comprehensive website providing information on opening times, appointments, services, staff and patient group information.
• The practice area demographic comprises of mainly white British, with other nationalities including Eastern European and Afro-Caribbean.
• There are higher than local and national average levels of income deprivation affecting children and older people.
• The practice serves a higher population of working age people.

Updated 18 September 2018

This practice is rated as Good overall. (Previous rating July 2017 – Requires improvement)

The key questions at this inspection are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Requires improvement

Are services well-led? - Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive at VH Doctors Ltd on 30 July 2018 as part of our inspection programme to follow up concerns previously highlighted in the July 2017 inspection.

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 had clear governance arrangements and staff understood their roles and responsibilities.
• National data showed that the practice was performing in line with national averages for most indicators. Where the practice had performed below national average they had acknowledged it and worked on improving the outcomes.
• The systems for managing and storing medicines, medical gases, emergency medicines and equipment, minimised risks. The system for storing vaccinations was ineffective. We found staff had not regularly documented checks on the fridge where vaccinations were stored. The practice had assessed the process of recording fridge temperatures and put in place a staff rota. We found there had been an improvement.
• Safety risk assessments had been completed however in some cases the actions highlighted in the assessments had not been completed.
• There was an effective system for receiving and actioning patient safety and medicine alerts.
• The practice had identified 0.3% of its practice list as carers by highlighting them during registration and clinical consultations.
• The practice had considered the type of equipment for use in the treatment of patients during a medical emergency. For example, the practice was equipped to deal with sepsis.
• Data from the national GP patient survey published in July 2018 showed there had been an increase in patient’s satisfaction with regards to the care they had received. Yet patients were still dissatisfied with the access to the service.
• Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• The uptake for childhood immunisations was below the local and national average.
• The practice had an active patient participation group who were positive about the support and improvements the service had made.
• The practice had received 16 CQC comment cards, 12 were positive about the care and treatment patients had received and four had mixed reviews in relation to their ability to make contact with the practice by phone.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Establish effective systems to complete action plans as a result of risk assessments.
• Strengthen systems for monitoring medicines and vaccines that require stroing in a fridge.
• Improve childhood immunisation uptake.
• Improve patient satisfaction in relation to appointments and contacting the surgery by telephone.
• Improve the process for the identification of carers.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP
Chief Inspector of General Practice

Please refer to the detailed report and the evidence tables for further information.

Updated 18 September 2018

Updated 18 September 2018

Updated 18 September 2018

Updated 18 September 2018

Updated 18 September 2018

Updated 18 September 2018