Blundellsands Surgery

Blundellsands surgery will achieve this by:

· Providing a high standard of Medical Care

· Being committed to the needs of the practice population.

· Creating an open and honest culture; acting with integrity.

· Being courteous, friendly and inclusive.

· Ensuring safe, effective services and environment

· Improving as a patient focused service through shared decision making with the practice population.

· Committing to the professional development of our motivated and skilled teams.

· Committing to continuous improvement by audit and Quality Improvement activity.

· Contributing to resilient and sustainable General Practice services by education and training of future workforce, and by working in collaboration with the wider health service.

· Promoting inclusivity, and respecting equality and diversity

· Creating effective and robust information governance systems

· Treating all patients and staff with dignity, respect and honesty

We deliver services from one location:

Blundellsands Surgery
1 Warren Road
Blundellsands
Liverpool
L23 6UR

Practice Leaflet:

To view a copy of our practice leaflet please click HERE

The Practice premises:

The surgery operates from a converted detached house. There is a car park with designated parking for people living with disability.

The whole of the ground floor is Disability Discrimination Act compliant.

There are two waiting areas and 12 consulting rooms on the ground floor.

Occasionally some patient services are delivered from the first floor; should any patient, relative or carer be unable ascend or descend the stairs safely, then the clinician will identify a clinical room on the ground floor in which to consult.

 

Service user bands

Whole population √

 

Service types:

· Doctors consultation service:

These services involve doctors working in premises, or a room, designated for medical consultation. Often the doctor will complete medical consultations, including physical examination and simple physiological measurement (such as blood pressure tests). They will discuss diagnosis and treatment options and may prescribe medicines for the person to take at home.

There may be other healthcare professionals, for example nurses, supporting the work of the doctor.

· Doctors Treatment Service:

These services involve doctors working in premises, or a room, designated for minor medical treatments as well as medical consultation. Often the doctor will complete medical consultations, including physical examination and simple physiological measurement (such as blood pressure tests). They will discuss diagnosis and treatment options and may prescribe medicines for the person to take at home.

They may also undertake minor invasive investigations or procedures, such as joint and periarticular injection.

There may be other healthcare professionals, for example practice nurses, supporting the work of the doctor.

 

The regulated activities under CQC are:

· Diagnostic and screening procedures

GP services, for registered patients and temporary patients.

Specific diagnostic procedures eg phlebotomy and cervical screening.

· Family Planning

Provision of all general family planning advice and prescription of oral contraceptive, emergency contraception.

· Maternity and Midwifery services

General Practice services offered and provided in conjunction with community midwives for the assessment, treatment and education of patients in the antenatal period as well as post-delivery.

· Treatment of disease, disorder or injury

General Practice services for registered and temporary patient

 

The individual provider (Dr Craig Gillespie) is the manager who has day-to-day responsibility for the regulated activity.

 

The Primary Health Care Team:

Blundellsands Surgery staff consists of:

1 Responsible GP as a sole trader

6 Salaried GPs

4 GP registrars

1 Advanced Nurse Practitioner

Lead Nurse, 2 practice nurses and 1 HCA

1 Clinical Pharmacist

1 Practice Manager/ 1 Admin Manager/ 1 Office Manager

15 Reception staff/Medical Secretaries/Admin staff

 

The wider health care team (not employed by the practice) include:

Health Visitors

Community Midwifes

Palliative Care Clinical Nurse Specialist

Psychology Practitioners

Community Matron

Care co-ordinators

District Nurses

Physiotherapist

Cancer care navigators

Social Prescribing Link Workers

Clinical Pharmacy Hub

 

Opening times:

 

Booking appointments:

To make an appointment to be seen at the surgery patients can attend in person, book online or telephone during normal opening hours on the following telephone numbers: 0151 924 6464

Appointments are available morning and afternoon Monday to Friday with doctors, clinical pharmacist, nurses and the health care assistant.

Patients may also request to speak to a doctor or nurse on the telephone, or may submit a request for online consultation.

 

Training:

The surgery has been a training practice for many years.

There are currently 3 GP trainers; they train fully qualified doctors who are gaining experience in general practice. Patients are informed if a trainee GP is sitting in with their doctor. If a patient wishes to see the doctor alone, this will be arranged.

As part of training occasionally consultations are recorded. This will occur only with the patient’s consent; intimate physical examinations will not be recorded. The camera will always be switched off upon request, and the recording will be deleted if the patient asks.

 

Practice Services:

Home Visits

Patients are generally seen at the surgery, but between the hours of 8.00am and 6.30pm patients may be seen at home, if the doctor considers a home visit necessary because of the patient’s medical condition. Patients are advised to call the surgery as soon as possible if they believe a home visit to be necessary. Requests for home visits are triaged by a GP; some visits where appropriate will be carried out by the Acute Visiting Service.

 

Out of Hours

On weekdays (between the hours of 6.30pm and 8.00am), and all day at weekends and bank holidays, services are commissioned by NHS Cheshire & Merseyside ICB.

 

For health information or advice during out of hours, patients can phone NHS 111, use 111.nhs.uk or in the case of a life threatening emergency phone: 999.

A Recorded telephone message provides this information when the surgery is closed.

 

Prescriptions

Patients may request a repeat prescription by leaving a written request form or computerised list in the box provided at the reception desk or via our website.

We aim to have the prescription available for collection within two working days.

 

General medical services and routine medical checks

This includes the provision of general medical care, management and treatment for people presenting with undifferentiated medical symptoms.

 

Management of chronic disease

This encompasses a wide range of conditions which require long term treatment and care. Our priority is to ensure this care is on-going and appropriate. We run clinics for patients with Diabetes, Strokes, CHD and Respiratory diseases which are held regularly throughout the year.

 

General nursing care

Our nurses provide contraceptive services, HRT reviews, well person checks, new patient checks, blood pressure monitoring and travel advice; they also perform vaccinations, and smear tests.

 

Minor surgery

We offer peri/intra-articular joint injections.

 

Maternity services

Midwife clinics are held regularly at the surgery. The doctors also contribute to ante-natal and postnatal care

 

Cervical screening

This service is provided by some of our doctors and specially trained nurses.

 

Family Planning and Contraceptive services

This is provided by doctors and nurses. Nurses are able to provide follow up contraception monitoring.

 

Vaccinations and immunisations

All routine childhood immunisations are performed at the surgery. All ‘at risk’ patients are offered the seasonal influenza vaccine each year.

 

Foreign Travel Health Advice

Our nurses have been trained to provide an up to date service that includes vaccinations if necessary.

 

Smoking Cessation

Smoking cessation is provided by the local service. Contactable at: 0300 100 1000 or www.smokefreesefton.co.uk.

 

Phlebotomy

Clinics are held every day and are carried out by our HCA.

 

Medicals

Medicals for various reasons are carried out i.e. HGV licences/Fostering/ employee medicals.

 

Collaborative and extended services:

 

The practice is a member of South Sefton Primary Care Network

Primary Care Networks (PCNs) are a key part of the NHS Long Term Plan. Structured around groups of collaborating GP Practices they are often described as the ‘unit of delivery’ for out of hospital services. South Sefton PCN will provide the structure and funding for new services to be developed locally, in response to the needs of the patients they serve.

Dr Gillespie is the Clinical Director of South Sefton PCN

 

South Sefton PCN serves a population of ~155,000 people spread over 4 neighbourhoods.

The PCN have developed a range of community services to support the local population. These include:

 

Enhanced Access

The practice provide General Practice services outside of the practice core hours through a subcontracting arrangement with South Sefton Primary Health Care Ltd.

First contact physiotherapy (FCP) service

Patients presenting with musculoskeletal problems can be booked to see a FCP directly by the practice receptionist, without first seeing a GP.

Social prescribing link workers (SPLW)

Social prescribing link workers connect people to community-based support, including activities and services that meet practical, social, and emotional needs that affect their health and wellbeing. This includes connecting people to statutory services for example housing, financial and welfare advice.

Care co-ordinators

A Care Coordinator is a trained healthcare professional who helps to manage the patient's condition and oversees the patient's treatment plan. They monitor and coordinate treatment plans with patients in order to educate

them about their illness and connect them with various medical professionals as needed.

Cancer care co-ordinators

A cancer Care Coordinator is a trained healthcare professional who helps to manage the patient's cancer condition and oversees the patient's treatment plan. They provide a holistic assessment, monitor and coordinate treatment plans with patients in order to educate them about their illness and connect them with various medical professionals as needed.

Clinical Pharmacy Hub

This is a collaborative approach to delivering clinical pharmacy services. The pharmacists provide discharge reconciliations, prescribing advice to General Practice and community pharmacy. They have an important role in prescribing safety, managing patient safety alerts and structured medication review.

Enhanced Health At Home

This is a service delivered by care coordinators and the clinical pharmacy team. It supports older patients upon discharge from hospital ensuring medicines safety and coordinating care to reduce the risk of re-admission.

Enhanced Health in Care Homes

This is an enhanced service for people resident in a care home. It is a holistic service that aims to keep people safe, well and functioning at the height of their capability.

Mental Health Services

TAPPs (trainee assistant psychology practitioners): Provide support and talking therapy for people with mild-moderate mental health conditions.

MHPs (Mental Health Practitioners): Provide advice to GP teams and support for patients that do not require secondary care services.

 

General Information:

Access to Patient information

Under GDPR patient data will be shared within the practice health care team and with other health care professionals if appropriate to do so, for example when referring for specialist care.

Confidential patient data may also be required for the broader purposes of public health and audit, research, the provision of health care services, teaching and training. Data disclosed will be kept to the minimum required to serve the purpose and if possible will be anonymised before disclosure.

Confidential and identifiable information will not be disclosed otherwise without explicit consent, unless:

1. It is a matter of life and death or serious harm to the patient or to another individual.

2. It is overwhelmingly in the public interest to do so.

3. There is a legal obligation to do so.

In all of these circumstances the minimum identifiable information that is essential to serve the purpose may be revealed to someone with a legal entitlement to access the data for that purpose.

All individuals with access to patient data have a professional and/or contractual duty of confidentiality.

 

Data Protection Policy

The Practice is committed to security of patient and staff records.

The Practice will take steps to ensure that individual patient information is not deliberately or accidentally released or (by default) made available or accessible to a third party without the patient’s consent, unless otherwise legally compliant. This will include training on Confidentiality issues, DPA principles, working security procedures, and the application of best practice in the workplace.

The Practice will maintain a system of “Significant Event Reporting” within a no-blame culture to capture and address incidents which threaten compliance.

DPA issues will form part of the Practice general procedures for the management of Risk.

 

Access to Health Records

Under GDPR patients can find out what information about them is held on computer. This applies to their health records. If they want to see their record they are asked to make a written request to the Practice.

 

Carers

A carer is someone who, provides help and support to a partner, child, relative, friend or neighbour who could not manage without their help. This could be due to age, physical or mental illness, substance misuse or disability. Anyone can become a carer, carers come from all walks of life, all cultures and can be of any age. Patients are asked to inform our reception staff if they are a carer or are cared for by another person. This will alert us to possible needs they may have in this role.

 

Chaperone

Patients are offered chaperones for intimate examinations by the health care professional they are consulting with. This can also be requested at reception. Suitably trained chaperones are available.

 

Confidentiality

Personal/medical information on patients is kept in order that they can receive appropriate care and treatment. This information is recorded on a computer.

The Practice will ensure that a high standard of patient confidentiality is maintained, where appropriate and by all members of the practice team. However, for the effective functioning of a multi-disciplinary team, it is sometimes necessary that medical information about patients is shared with other members of the team.

 

Zero Tolerance

The NHS operates a Zero Tolerance Policy with regard to violence and abuse and the practice has the right to remove abusive and/or violent patients from the list with immediate effect in order to safeguard practice staff, patients and other persons.

Violence in this context includes actual or threatened physical violence or verbal abuse that leads to fear for a person’s safety.

In this situation we are obliged to notify the patient in writing of their removal from the list and record in the patient’s medical records the fact of the removal and the circumstances leading to it. The health care commissioners are then responsible for providing further medical care for such patients

 

Patient Participation Group

Blundellsands Surgery is committed to continually improve our services by learning from and listening to our patients. Following the Covid Pandemic, the Patient Participation Group is once again active and we are always looking for new members.

 

Comments, suggestions and complaints

We welcome comments and suggestions on the services and care that we provide. If we fail to provide the highest care possible, patients are asked to make this known to the Practice Manager.

The Practice takes all complaints very seriously and feels that the patient is entitled to raise concerns and ask for a full explanation when they feel dissatisfied with the service they have received. Our complaints procedure is designed to make sure that we address all concerns/complaints as quickly as possible.

Blundellsands Surgery Statement of Purpose

Date: April 2023