Concord Medical Practice

Background to this inspection

Updated 10 January 2017

Following our last inspection, we asked the provider to address outstanding registration issues. Evidence obtained during this inspection confirmed that the provider had submitted applications to cancel the previous registered manager and register a new one. Although the applications had been declined by the Care Quality Commission, the provider was in the process of addressing this.

Dr Mazarelo and Partners, also known as Concord Medical Practice, provides care and treatment to 5,234 patients of all ages, based on a Primary Medical Services (PMS) contract. The practice is part of the NHS Sunderland clinical commissioning group (CCG) and provides care and treatment to patients living in the Concord area of Sunderland. We visited the following location as part of inspection: The Health Centre, Victoria Road, Washington, Tyne and Wear, NE37 2PU.

The practice had a mostly white British population. Nationally reported data showed that 1.2% of the population were Asian and 1.1% were from other non-white ethnic groups. The data also showed the practice had a higher percentage of people with long-standing health conditions than the England average, but fewer people with caring responsibilities. Life expectancies for men and women were below the England averages. There were higher levels of social deprivation in relation to older people and children.

The practice is located in purpose built premises which provide patients with fully accessible treatment and consultation rooms. The practice has two GP partners (both male), two salaried GPs (one female and one male), a nurse practitioner and a practice nurse (both female), a healthcare assistant (female), a practice manager, and a small team of administrative and reception staff. The practice is not a training or teaching practice.

The practice is open Monday to Friday between 8:30am and 6pm, and on Saturday between 9am and 11:30am. When the practice is closed patients can access out-of-hours care via Vocare (also known locally as Northern Doctors), and the NHS 111 service.

GP appointment times are from:

8:30am to 11:45am and 2:30pm to 4:40pm (Monday to Friday).
9am to 11:20am (Saturday).

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 10 January 2017

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We previously carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this practice on 20 and 28 January 2016. Overall, we rated the practice as requires improvement. There were breaches of legal requirements. In particular, we found:

Appropriate systems and processes were not in place for assessing, monitoring and improving the quality of the care and treatment patients received.
The provider had not taken appropriate action to make sure the staff they employed had undergone the required pre-employment checks. Also, some staff that acted as chaperones had not had a Disclosure and Barring Service check or received appropriate training.
The provider had not taken action to make sure they were correctly registered.

After the comprehensive inspection the practice told us what they would do to address the identified breaches. We undertook this announced focussed inspection, on 16 August 2016, to check that the practice had implemented their action plan and to confirm that they now met the legal requirements. You can read the report of our last comprehensive inspection by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Dr Mazarelo & Partners on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Our key findings were as follows:

The provider had complied with the requirement notices we issued following our last inspection visit. In particular, we found:

The arrangements for dealing with and recording significant events had been improved.
Staff carrying out chaperone duties had received appropriate training and had undergone a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.
Most staff had received the training they needed to carry out their roles and responsibilities safely and effectively.
The provider had also taken steps to make sure they were correctly registered.

However, there were also areas where the provider needs to make improvements. The provider should:

Put in place suitable arrangements for monitoring the action taken in response to safety alerts.
Arrange for staff to complete their outstanding training.
Review the standard letter issued in response to complaints received to include details of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)

Chief Inspector of General Practice