Kent House Health Centre

Updated 1 August 2022

Kent House Health Centre is located in the coastal towns of Lyme Regis and Charmouth, Dorset, and has merged with two other local practices, Lyme Bay Medical Practice and Charmouth Medical Practice.

The registered provider for this service is also known as Dr Forbes Watson Partnership and the provider is in the process of amending the name and address of the main location to Lyme Bay Medical Practice which is the location we inspected. Lyme Bay Medical Centre is located at:

2 Uplyme Road

Lyme Regis

Dorset

DT7 3LS

We did not inspect Kent House Health Centre as this is used as a dental service with an extension of community services such as health visitor appointments and reviews for patients experiencing mental health conditions. Kent House Health Centre is located at:

Silver Street

Lyme Regis

Dorset

DT7 3HT

Charmouth Medical Practice is located at:

The Street

Bridport

Dorset

DT6 6PE

The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening

procedures, maternity and midwifery services, family planning, surgical procedures and treatment of disease, disorder or injury. These are delivered from both Lyme Bay Medical Centre and Charmouth Medical Practice. The practice is situated within the Dorset Commissioning Group (CCG) and provides services to approximately 9,000 patients under the terms of a general medical services (GMS) contract. This is a contract between GP practices and NHS England for delivering services to the local community.

There are seven GPs at the practice, a nurse practitioner, three practice nurses, two lead nurses and two health care assistants. The clinical team are supported by a management team, reception and administration staff.

Information published by Public Health England shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the ninth decile (9 of 10). The lower the decile, the more deprived the practice population is relative to others.

Due to the enhanced infection prevention and control measures put in place since the pandemic and in line with the national guidance, most GP appointments were telephone consultations. If the clinician decides a patient requires a face to face appointment or a patient prefers a face to face appointment, then an appointment is made.

The practice is open between 8am and 6.30pm Monday to Friday. Extended hours appointments are offered on Saturday mornings between 9am and 12.30pm. When the practice was closed patients are directed to NHS 111 out of hours services.

Updated 1 August 2022

We carried out an announced inspection at Kent House Health Centre on 5 May 2022 as part of our inspection programme.

The practice Kent House Health Centre has merged with two other local practices, Lyme Bay Medical Practice and Charmouth Medical Practice. The registered provider for this service is also known as Dr Forbes Watson Partnership. The provider is presently going through CQC’s registration process to reflect the change of name and address to the main location which is Lyme Bay Medical Practice.

Overall, the practice is rated as Good

Safe - Requires Improvement

Effective - Good

Caring - Good

Responsive - Good

Well-led - Good

Following our previous inspection on 19 June 2018 the practice was rated Good overall.

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Kent House Health Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection

This inspection was a fully comprehensive inspection incorporating remote searches, interviews of staff and a site visit.

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
• Requesting evidence from the provider
• A short site visit
• Staff Questionnaires.

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 have rated this practice as Good overall. We rated Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well-led as Good because:

We found that:

• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and an effective system for reporting and recording significant events.
• The practice provided care in a way that kept patients protected from avoidable harm
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence-based guidance. Staff had been trained to provide them with the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
• Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• Feedback from patients about their care was consistently positive. The practice scored above the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) average in all areas of the national GP patient survey.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
• 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.

We have rated this practice as requires improvement for Safe because:

• Staff vaccination was not maintained in line with Public Health England guidance relevant to their role.
• Information to confirm the ongoing registration status of clinical staff was not always complete.
• There were no risk assessments in place for emergency medications deemed not required.

We found breaches of regulations, the provider must:

Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.

The area’s where the provider should make improvements:

• Review and monitor cervical screening uptake rates and continue to encourage eligible persons to attend for screening.

• Work towards staff completing equality and diversity training

• Work towards all staff understanding of the vision and values of the practice.

• Work towards completing the action plan as identified to maintain all staff training in relation to Infection Prevention and Control policy.

• Improve the learning from significant events to include non-clinical staff.

Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care