Background to this inspection
Updated
9 July 2021
Newcastle medical Group is located at:
Hotspur Way
Intu Eldon Square
Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE1 7XR
The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening procedures, maternity and midwifery services and treatment of disease, disorder or injury and surgical procedures.
The practice is situated within the Newcastle and Gateshead Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and delivers General Medical Services (GMS) to a patient population of about 16500. This is part of a contract held with NHS England.
Of the 16500 patients over 15900 are classified as being of working age. The practice serves the local university and many of their patients were students.
The practice is part of a wider network of GP practices and is a member of one of seven primary care networks in the Newcastle area.
There is a team of 4.9 full time equivalent GPs and a team of 3 nurses supported by one healthcare assistant. The GPs are supported at the practice by a team of reception/administration staff. The practice manager is based at the location to provide managerial oversight.
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 GP needed to see a patient face-to-face then the patient was offered that choice.
Extended access and out of hours services were provided locally by a different provider where late evening and weekend appointments are available.
Updated
9 July 2021
We carried out an announced inspection at Newcastle Medical centre on 8 June 2021. Overall, the practice is rated as Requires Improvement.
The ratings for each key question are:
Safe - Good
Effective – Requires Improvement
Caring - Good
Responsive - Good
Well-led – Good
Following our previous inspection on 10 December 2019, the practice was rated Requires Improvement overall.
The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Newcastle Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk
Why we carried out this inspection
This inspection was a comprehensive inspection to follow up on:
- Is the practice Safe?
- Is the practice Effective?
- Is the practice Caring?
- Is the practice Responsive?
- Is the practice Well-Led
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 and questionnaires.
- 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 short 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 have rated this practice as Good overall, Good in safe, Requires Improvement in Effective, Good in Caring, Good in responsive and Good in Well-led. We rated the population groups as Good with the exception of Children and Families and Working age people, which we rated as Requires Improvement.
We found that:
- The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm though some areas required development.
- Patients did not always receive effective care and treatment that met their needs. Clinical indicators demonstrated that the practice was behind on their childhood immunisations and vaccinations. Cervical screening figures were also below both local and national targets. However the practice had measures in place to improve in these areas.
- Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care. Some patients were dissatisfied with the service.
- The practice adjusted how it delivered services to meet the needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care. While the practice had undergone leadership changes since our last inspection in December 2019, and the new leadership team had demonstrated some clear improvements, the pandemic had prevented the implementation of some of their recovery plans. .
Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:
- Continue to develop and improve the patient experience at the practice.
- Continue to develop and improve internal systems to ensure improvements of clinical indicators, particularly cervical screening.
- Continue to develop and improve the leadership arrangements at the practice.
- Continue to improve the identification and addition of carers to the carers list.
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