Redhouse Medical Centre

Background to this inspection

Updated 8 March 2017

Redhouse Medical Centre provides care and treatment to 4993 patients of all ages, based on a Personal 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 all areas north of the River Wear up to the A19 boundary. We visited the following location as part of inspection: Redhouse Medical Centre, 127 Renfrew Road, Sunderland, SR5 5PS.

The practice is part of Sunderland clinical commissioning group (CCG) and provides services to patients of all ages based on a General Medical Services (GMS) contract agreement for general practice.

Information taken from Public Health England placed the area in which the practice was located in the second most deprived decile. (A decile is a method of splitting up a set of ranked data into 10 equally large subsections). In general, people living in more deprived areas tend to have greater need for health services. The average male life expectancy is 75 years, which is four years lower than the England average and the average female life expectancy is 81 years, which is two years lower than the England average.

The percentage of patients reporting with a long-standing health condition is much higher than the national average (practice population is 61.3 % compared to a national average of 54.0%).

The practice had a mostly white British population. There were higher levels of social deprivation, especially in relation to older people and children. Nationally reported data showed the practice had a higher percentage of people with long-standing health conditions than the England average. National data also showed that 1.3% of the population were from an Asian ethnic minority background, and 1% were from non-white ethnic groups.

The practice was located in a building which had been adapted to meet patients’ needs.

The practice had three GP partners (two male and one female), a practice nurse (female), a healthcare assistant (female), a practice manager, an assistant manager and a small team of administrative and reception staff.

The practice is open a Monday between 8:30am and 7:45pm, and on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday between 8:30am and 6pm. The practice is closed at weekends.

GP appointment times: Monday between 9am and 11:20am, and 2pm and 7:30pm; Tuesday to Friday between 9am and 11:20am, and 2pm and 5:10pm.

The NHS 111 service and Vocare, known locally as Northern Doctors Urgent Care Limited (NDUC), provide the service for patients requiring urgent medical attention out of hours.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 8 March 2017

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Redhouse Medical Centre on 12 July 2016, where we rated the practice as requiring improvement overall. The full comprehensive report on the July 2016 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Redhouse Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This inspection was an announced focused inspection carried out on 7 February 2017 to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches in regulations that we identified in our previous inspection on 12 July 2016. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements and also additional improvements made since our last inspection.

Overall the practice is now rated as good.

Our key findings were as follows:

The practice had made progress in addressing all areas of weakness identified during the previous inspection in July 2016.
They had implemented an annual review process to check for any themes emerging from significant events over the year, and also check on the implementation of learning.
The approach to clinical audit within the practice was developing; however this was still largely reactive. The practice had not yet developed an audit programme to support them in proactive quality improvement.
We found the practice had improved the approach to handling patient safety alerts, such as those from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). However, the practice did not maintain a documentary record of the action taken in response to each alert.
They had implemented improvements in recruitment checks.
Arrangements had been made to offer appraisals for all staff, including non-clinical staff.
The practice had addressed those areas we told them they should at the July 2016 inspection. This included arranging training for the practice’s designated infection control lead; replacing window blinds with loop cords for those that did not present a ligature risk; improving arrangements to ensure they maintained the cold chain for temperature sensitive medicines; purchasing paediatric defibrillator pads; and preparing a GP locum induction pack. The practice had also taken steps to develop a patient participation group, but they had not successfully held a meeting of the group yet.
The vision and strategy for the practice was developing. They had started to develop a business plan to document the future development of the practice.
The leadership capability and structure within the practice was being developed to ensure it supported the practice going forward.

There are areas where the provider should make improvements. The practice should:

Continue to develop and strengthen their governance systems to ensure staff are supported to proactively manage and continually improve the quality of the service provided. This includes developing a proactive programme of clinical and non-clinical audit to support quality improvement, further improve patient outcomes and safety of the practice.
Check the infection control arrangements within the practice are appropriate by carrying out an audit and following up and implementing any improvements identified.
Maintain a good audit trail of action taken in response to patient safety alerts, including those from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)

Chief Inspector of General Practice