The Practice St Albans

Updated 15 December 2022

The Practice St Albans is located at:

Hucknall Lane

Bulwell

Nottingham

NG6 8AQ

There is a branch surgery known as:

The Practice Nirmala

112 Pedmore Valley

Bestwood Park

Nottingham

NG5 5NN

The practice provides primary medical services to approximately 9610 patients through a General Medical Services (GMS) contract with Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board. This had increased by 2500 in April 2022 as a result of the closure of a neighbouring practice.

The practice is one of six of the provider Chilvers and McRae Limited of Rose Lane, Bell Lane Office Village, Bell Lane, Amersham, Buckinghamshire, HP6 6FA. The practice is one of a group of three Nottingham practices known as Nottingham City Group Practice.

The practice has a lower than national average elderly population and a higher percentage of younger patients. The percentage of working age patients is similar to the national average. Disease prevalence is generally in line with local and national averages.

The practice lies in the first decile of deprivation, decile one. The lower the decile the more deprived the area.

The practice is staffed by two salaried GPs, one nurse practitioner, one practice nurse and a trainee nursing associate. They are supplemented by two regular locum GPs. The clinical team are supported by administrators/receptionists, a medical secretary and managerial staff and housekeeping. At the time of our inspection the provider was onboarding three further receptionist/administrators, a practice nurse and a healthcare assistant. There were vacancies for a clinical pharmacist, a GP a practice manager and further administrator/receptionists.

The Practice St Albans is open from 8am to 6.30pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. On Wednesday it is open from 8am to 7.45pm.

The branch surgery, The Practice Nirmala, is open from 8am to 1.30pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and from 1.30pm to 6.30pm on Wednesday.

Patients can access care and treatment at either site.

The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening procedures, maternity and midwifery services, family planning, the treatment of disease, disorder or injury and surgical procedures.

The practice is part of a wider network of GP practices known as Bulwell and Top Valley Primary Care Network.

Due to the enhanced infection prevention and control measures put in place since the pandemic and in line with the national guidance, many GP appointments were telephone consultations, although the practice had stayed open for face to face appointments as usual throughout the covid pandemic.

Out-of-hours GP services are provided by NEMS.

Updated 15 December 2022

We carried out an announced inspection at The Practice St Albans on 29 September 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.

The ratings for each key question are:

Safe - Good

Effective - Good

Well-led – Good

We had last inspected the practice on 22 August 2019 when it was rated good overall and requires improvement in the safe key question. At this inspection we found that the issues that had resulted in the requires improvement rating had been addressed.

Why we carried out this inspection.

We undertook this inspection as part of a random selection of services rated Good and Outstanding to test the reliability of our new monitoring approach. This inspection was a focused inspection on the safe, effective and well-led key questions.

This inspection was a focused review of information:

• We reviewed the key questions of safe, effective and well-led in line with our inspection methodology.
• The ratings for the caring and responsive key questions were carried forward from our previous inspection as we had no concerns to indicate that these needed to be reviewed.

How we carried out the inspection.

Throughout the pandemic CQC has continued to regulate and respond to risk. However, taking into account the circumstances arising as a result of the pandemic, and in order to reduce risk, we have conducted our inspections differently.

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site. This was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements.

This included:

• Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing
• Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system and discussing findings with the provider
• Reviewing patient records to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider
• Requesting evidence from the provider
• A shorter 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 and
• information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.

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.
• The practice had taken reasonable steps to protect patients and others from the risks posed by healthcare associated infections.
• Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• The practice adjusted how it delivered services to meet the needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
• The provider had effective oversight of the systems and processes designed to deliver safe and effective care.

Whilst we found no breaches of the Regulations the practice should

• Continue its efforts to improve the uptake of cervical cancer screening and childhood immunisation.
• Re-establish the Patient Participation Group.

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 Hospitals and Interim Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services