Annfield Plain Surgery

Updated 28 January 2016

Annfield Plain Surgery is a purpose built GP premises in Annfield Plain, a village in County Durham. They have a Personal Medical Services (PMS) contract and also offer enhanced services for example; extended hours and excluded patients. The practice covers the village of Annfield Plain. There are 3286 patients on the practice list and the majority of patients are of white British background. The practice is in an area of social deprivation.

The practice is a partnership with two partners, one of which is a clinical partner. There is a salaried GP. There is a Practice Nurse and a Health Care assistant. The practice currently employs a career start nurse and is responsible for her training. This post offers a two-year structured training programme for a nurse wishing to gain the skills and experience required to work as a Practice Nurse within primary care. There is a Practice Manager, Office Manager and reception and secretarial staff.

The practice is open between 8.30am and 6pm Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and 8.30am to 12.30pm on Wednesdays.

Patients requiring a GP outside of normal working hours are advised to contact the GP out of hour’s service provided by North Durham CCG.  

Updated 28 January 2016

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Annfield Plain Surgery on 15 December 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.
• 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 found it easy to make an appointment. There were urgent appointments available the same day for GPs and Nurses. Routine appointments were available to book the next day.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by the management team. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• The practice worked closely with other organisations and with the local community in planning how services were provided to ensure that they met people’s needs.
• The practice was aware of and complied with the requirements of the Duty of Candour. The intention of this was to ensure that the practice was open, honest and transparent with patients in relation to care and treatment.

The area where the provider should make improvement is:

• The practice should implement the Recruitment policy for all future employees and ensure that all staff who act as a chaperone have had a disclosure and barring service check (DBS) or a risk assessment. (Disclosure and barring service checks identify whether a person has a criminal record or is on an official list of people barred from working in roles where they may have contact with children or adults who may be vulnerable).

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 28 January 2016

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. 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 28 January 2016

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 were relatively high for all standard childhood immunisations. Patients told us that children and young people were treated in an age-appropriate way and were recognised as individuals. We saw good examples of joint working with midwives, health visitors and school nurses. Appointments for children were always available as needed.

Updated 28 January 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of older people. Nationally reported data showed that outcomes for patients were good for conditions commonly found in older people. The practice offered proactive, personalised care to meet the needs of the older patients in its population and had a range of enhanced services, for example, in dementia and end of life care. The practice were proactive in identifying patients who were in need of palliative care and one of the GPs had completed extra training in this area. As part of the ‘Improving outcomes scheme’ in conjunction with the CCG, the practice held a register of patients who were at risk of unplanned emergency admission to hospital. The Practice Nurse contacted these patients to offer support and advice. They were responsive to the needs of older people, and offered home visits and rapid access appointments for those with enhanced needs.

Updated 28 January 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of working-age people (including those recently retired and students). The needs of this group had been identified and the practice had adjusted the services they 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 reflected the needs for this age group. The Practice Nurse had completed further training in sexual health and was able to offer contraception and sexual health checks to patients who required this service.

Updated 28 January 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia). 81.48% of people with dementia had received an annual physical health check which was slightly lower but comparable to national figures. The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of patients experiencing poor mental health, including those with dementia. They carried out advance care planning for patients with dementia.

The practice had told patients experiencing poor mental health about how to access various support groups and voluntary organisations. They 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 28 January 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable. They had carried out annual health checks for people with a learning disability.

The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of vulnerable patients. 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. The practice offered an enhanced service for ‘violent patients’ who had been removed from the lists of other practices in the CCG.