Marine Medical Group

Updated 11 August 2016

The practice is based within the Blyth Health Centre in Blyth, Northumberland. The practice serves people living in the Blyth area and extends as far south as Seaton Sluice. The practice provides services to patients from one location: Blyth Health Centre, Thoroton Street, Blyth, Northumberland, NE24 1DX. We visited this address as part of the inspection.

The practice is located in a purpose built building and provides services to patients at ground floor level. They offer on-site parking, including disabled parking, accessible WC’s and step-free access. They provide services to around 10,500 patients of all ages based on a Primary Medical Services (PMS) contract agreement for general practice.

The practice has four GP partners and seven GPs in total (three male, four female). There are also two practice nurses, one healthcare assistant, a practice manager, an IT/ medicines manager, office manager, administrator, two medical secretaries and nine reception and administrative support staff.

The practice is open between 8.30am and 6.30pm Monday to Friday. Appointments were available from 8.30am to 10am every morning and from 3pm to 5pm every afternoon. Extended hours' surgeries were offered on Monday and Wednesday mornings between 7.30am and 8.30am.

Information taken from Public Health England places the area in which the practice is located in the third more deprived decile. In general, people living in more deprived areas tend to have greater need for health services. The practice’s age distribution profile is weighted towards a slightly older population than national averages. There are more patients registered with the practice over the age of 65 years than the national average.

The service for patients requiring urgent medical attention out-of-hours is provided by the 111 service and Northern Doctors Urgent Care Limited.

Updated 11 August 2016

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Marine Medical Group on 16 July 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and to report incidents and near misses. Information about safety was recorded, monitored, appropriately reviewed and addressed.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff had received training appropriate to their roles.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• Patients said they were able to get an appointment with a GP when they needed one, with urgent appointments available the same day.
• The practice offered pre-bookable early morning appointments two days per week with the GP or practice nurse, which improved access for patients who worked full time.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• There was a clear leadership structure in place and staff felt supported by management. The practice sought feedback from staff and patients, which they acted on.
• Staff throughout the practice worked well together as a team.

However there were areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

The area where the provider must make improvements is:

• The practice must take action to ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way for service users through the proper and safe management of medicines.

In addition the provider should:

• Review the level of safeguarding children training to be completed by the healthcare assistant in line with the latest guidance.
• Make arrangements for a fire drill to be completed as soon as is practicably possible.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 17 September 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people with long-term conditions. Staff had lead roles in chronic disease management and patients at risk of hospital admission were identified as a priority. Longer appointments and home visits were available when needed. All these patients were offered a structured review at least annually to check that their health and medication needs were being met. For those people with the most complex needs, the practice worked with relevant health and care professionals to deliver a multidisciplinary package of care. A traffic light system was used to highlight those patients that required more intense input from the clinical team. In addition to the red, amber and green categories, the practice used a ‘blue’ category. This was to identify patients who were not currently in receipt of palliative care, but had been identified as being at risk of requiring it in the future. The list was reviewed on a regular basis and discussed at multidisciplinary meetings.

Updated 17 September 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of families, children and young people. There were systems in place to identify and follow up children living in disadvantaged circumstances and who were at risk. For example, children and young people who had a high number of A&E attendances. Immunisation rates were relatively high for all standard childhood immunisations. Patients told us that children and young people were treated in an age-appropriate way and were recognised as individuals, and we saw evidence to confirm this. Appointments were available outside of school hours and the premises were suitable for children and babies. We saw good examples of joint working with midwives and health visitors.

Updated 17 September 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of older people. Nationally reported data showed that outcomes for patients were good for conditions commonly found in older people. They offered proactive, personalised care to meet the needs of the older people in its population. For example, patients at high risk of hospital admission and those in vulnerable circumstances had care plans. The practice was responsive to the needs of older people, including offering home visits and rapid access appointments for those with enhanced needs. The practice offered annual health checks to all of their patients over the age of 75.

The practice maintained a palliative care register and end of life care plans were in place for those patients it was appropriate for. They offered immunisations for pneumonia and shingles to older people and provided flu vaccinations to older people as a priority.

Updated 17 September 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of working-age people (including those recently retired and students). The needs of the working age population, those recently retired and students had been identified and the practice had adjusted the services it offered to ensure these were accessible, flexible and offered continuity of care. The practice was proactive in offering online services as well as a full range of health promotion and screening that reflects the needs for this age group. NHS health checks were offered to patients between the ages of 40 and 74.

Updated 17 September 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia). 94% of people experiencing poor mental health had agreed care plans in place. The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of people experiencing poor mental health, including those with dementia. It carried out advance care planning for patients with dementia. 98.6% of patients identified as living with dementia had received an annual review in 2014/15 and had agreed care plans in place.

The practice had told patients experiencing poor mental health about how to access various support groups and voluntary organisations. It had a system in place to follow up patients who had attended accident and emergency (A&E) where they may have been experiencing poor mental health. Staff had received training on how to care for people with mental health needs and dementia.

Updated 17 September 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable. The practice held a register of patients living in vulnerable circumstances including those with a learning disability. It had carried out annual health checks for people with a learning disability and 88% of these patients had received a follow-up in 2014/15. It offered longer appointments for people with a learning disability.

The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of vulnerable people. It had told vulnerable patients about how to access various support groups and voluntary organisations. Staff knew how to recognise signs of abuse in vulnerable adults and children. Staff were aware of their responsibilities regarding information sharing, documentation of safeguarding concerns and how to contact relevant agencies in normal working hours and out of hours.