Forge Medical Practice

Updated 12 December 2022

Forge Medical Practice is in Sunderland Tyne and Wear and provides services from, Pallion Park, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, SR4 6QE. We visited this location as part of our inspection.

The practice is registered with the Care Quality Commission as a partnership of GPs. The provider is registered to deliver the regulated activities of diagnostic and screening procedures; maternity and midwifery services; treatment of disease, disorder or injury; and, surgical procedures.

The practice is situated within the Sunderland Integrated Care Board (ICB) and delivers a General Medical Services contract (GMS) to a patient population of about 9,200. This is part of a contract held with NHS England.

The practice is part of a wider network of GP practices, Sunderland West One Primary Care Network (PCN).

Information published by Office for Health Improvement and Disparities shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the third most deprived decile (3 of 10). The lower the decile, the more deprived the practice population is relative to others.

According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the practice area is 93.1% White 4.9% Asian, 0.8% Black, 0.7% Mixed, and 0.4% Other.

There are 4 GP partners and 1 salaried GP working at the practice (3 male and 2 female). The practice has 2 practice managers and an assistant practice manager. There is 1 nurse practitioner, 5 practice nurses, and 1 health care assistant working at the practice. There is a team of reception/administration staff.

The practice is a training practice. They have GP trainees (fully qualified doctors allocated to the practice as part of a 3-year postgraduate general practice vocational training programme).

The practice is open between 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday. The practice offers a range of appointment types including telephone consultations and advance appointments.

Extended access is provided locally by a local alliance of GP practices, under a separate contract, where late evening and weekend appointments are available. This service offers pre-bookable appointments for patients who require urgent attention at a local hub site. The hours are:

• 6pm – 8pm: Monday to Friday
• 9am – 2pm: Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holidays

Out of hours services are provided by via the NHS 111 service.

Updated 12 December 2022

We carried out an announced focused inspection at Forge Medical Practice on 21 and 24 November 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as good.

Safe - Good

Effective – Good

Caring - not inspected, rating of good carried forward from previous inspection

Responsive - not inspected, rating of good carried forward from previous inspection

Well-led – Good

Following our previous inspection on 10 September 2021, the practice was rated requires improvement overall. We rated the key questions of safe and effective as requires improvement and caring, responsive and well-led as good.

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Forge Medical Practice on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection

We carried out this inspection to follow up concerns from our previous inspection.

How we carried out the inspection/review

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site.

This included:

• Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing.
• Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system (this was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements).
• 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 found that:

• There had been improvements to the way care and treatment was delivered since our previous inspection. The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• There were comprehensive systems in place to keep patients safe, which took into account current best practice. Projects and audits had been carried out to improve the prescribing of medicines.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• There was a proactive approach to anticipating and managing risks. Innovation was encouraged to achieve sustained improvements.
• Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
• The leadership governance and culture at the practice were improving the delivery of high-quality, community focused, person-centred care.
• Staff were positive about working for the organisation. They said they felt supported by the management. Feedback and suggestions from them were taken on board and acted upon.
• There was a proactive approach to seeking new ways to provide care and treatment.

Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:

• Deliver their plans so that all staff receive an appraisal in a timely way.

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

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Hospitals and Interim Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services