A Brighton doctors’ surgery specialising in students and older patients has been rated good after an inspection by an official watchdog.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) praised the New Larchwood Surgery, in Waldron Avenue, Coldean.
New Larchwood is a nurse-led practice run by advanced nurse practitioner Deirdre Prower with support from Rekha Shah.
Dr Shah is the senior partner at the nearby Carden Surgery at the County Oak Medical Centre, in Carden Hill, Brighton.
The CQC said: “Overall the practice is rated as good. Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led services.
“It was also good for providing services for older people, people with long-term conditions, families, children and young people, working age people (including those recently retired and students), people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable and people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia).
“The inspection team spoke with staff and patients and reviewed policies and procedures.
“The practice understood the needs of the local population and engaged effectively with other services.
“The practice was committed to providing high-quality patient care and patients told us they felt the practice was caring and responsive to their needs.”
The surgery opened almost seven years ago as a purpose-built practice in the New Larchwood supported living complex, run by the Hanover housing association.
It also provides general medical services for approximately 1,200 registered patients within the Coldean area. They include students living in the Varley Park halls of residence, run by Brighton University, and residents living in the New Larchwood complex.
The practice was inspected in May last year. The CQC said: “We identified improvements were needed in relation to a number of areas.
“These included staff recruitment processes, supervision and appraisal of staff, assessment and monitoring of risks, reporting and learning from incidents and the availability of safety equipment within the practice.
“We inspected the practice on 28 January 2015 to check whether improvements had been made.”
In the latest report the CQC said
- 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 care and decisions about their treatment.
- The practice engaged effectively with other services to ensure continuity of care for patients.
- The practice understood the needs of the local population and planned services to meet those needs.
- The practice was located within shared premises which provided a focal point for the wellbeing of the local community in tackling social isolation. A community café, hairdressing salon, art club and reading club were located within the same premises.
- Although the practice was open for a limited number of hours each day, patients reported good access to appointments.
The CQC said: “The practice had improved arrangements to ensure patients were able to access advice and urgent appointments when they were closed, at their associated practice, Carden Surgery.
“However, there were areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.
“The provider should ensure continued development of a virtual patient representation group to further enhance the use of patient feedback to promote continuous improvement.”
