Archived: Springwell House

Updated 27 July 2017

The Care Quality Commission has registered Springwell House to provide primary care services.

The practice is located in Sunderland on the A690, Durham Road; which is a main road leading to Sunderland city centre. They provide services to around 1850 patients from the following address, which we visited during this inspection:

• Springwell House, Durham Road, North Moor, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, SR3 1RN.

Springwell House is a small sized practice providing care and treatment to patients of all ages, based on a Personal Medical Services (PMS) contract agreement for general practice. The practice is part of the NHS Sunderland clinical commissioning group (CCG).

The practice has one lead GP who owns the practice. There is also a long-term locum GP, a practice nurse, a healthcare assistant, a practice manager, three administrative support staff and two domestic staff. Both GPs are male.

The practice is a single story building with fully accessible treatment and consultation rooms for patients with mobility needs. There is a ramp leading up to the front of the building for patients in wheelchairs and those who have difficulty using stairs. There is a disabled WC. There is nearby parking on the street.

Surgery opening times are Monday 7:30am to 6pm, Tuesday to Friday 8:30am to 6pm. The local CCG has commissioned the out of hours provider to provide services to the practice patient list between 6pm to 6:30pm.

Appointments are available between the following times:

Monday 7:30-10:30am and 2pm-3:30pm

Tuesday 10am - 12:30pm and 4pm-6pm

Wednesday 8:30-11am and 4pm-6pm

Thursday 9:30am – 11:30am, 12pm-1pm and 4:30pm-6pm

Friday 9:30am – 12:30pm and 4pm-6pm

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

Information taken from Public Health England placed the area in which the practice was located in the third most deprived decile. In general, people living in more deprived areas tend to have greater need for health services. The average male life expectancy is 76 years, which is three years lower than the England average and the average female life expectancy is 82 years, which is one year lower than the England average.

The percentage of patients reporting with a long-standing health condition is higher than the national average (practice population is 59.7% compared to a national average of 54.0%).

Updated 27 July 2017

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of Springwell House on 15 November 2016, which resulted in the practice being rated as requires improvement overall with the domains of safe and well-led being requires improvement. The full comprehensive report can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Springwell House on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This inspection was an announced focused inspection carried out on 22 June 2017 to confirm that the practice made the improvements that we identified in our previous inspection in November 2016. This report covers our findings in relation to those improvements.

The practice is rated as good overall; including for providing safe services and for being well-led.

Our key findings at this inspection on the 22 June 2017 were as follows:

The practice had addressed the issues identified during the previous inspection.

• The practice had strengthed their governance systems.

• The practice gave examples of significant events which had occurred and demonstrated positive change and learning from these.

• There was a clear audit trail of action taken in relation to patient safety alerts.

• They had responded to complaints and concerns raised.

• The practice had carried out a recent patient survey to help them improve the quality of care provided.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 27 July 2017

The practice is rated as good for the care of patients with long-term conditions.

The provider had resolved the concerns for safety, effectiveness and how well-led the service was, identified at our inspection on 15 November 2016. These applied to everyone using this practice, including this population group. The population group ratings have been updated to reflect this.

Updated 27 July 2017

The practice is rated as good for the care of families, children and young people.

The provider had resolved the concerns for safety, effectiveness and how well-led the service was, identified at our inspection on 15 November 2016. These applied to everyone using this practice, including this population group. The population group ratings have been updated to reflect this.

Updated 27 July 2017

The practice is rated as good for the care of older people.

The provider had resolved the concerns for safety, effectiveness and how well-led the service was, identified at our inspection on 15 November 2016. These applied to everyone using this practice, including this population group. The population group ratings have been updated to reflect this.

Updated 27 July 2017

The practice is rated as good for the care of working age people (including those recently retired and students).

The provider had resolved the concerns for safety, effectiveness and how well-led the service was, identified at our inspection on 15 November 2016. These applied to everyone using this practice, including this population group. The population group ratings have been updated to reflect this.

Updated 27 July 2017

The practice is rated as good for the care of people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia).

The provider had resolved the concerns for safety, effectiveness and how well-led the service was, identified at our inspection on 15 November 2016. These applied to everyone using this practice, including this population group. The population group ratings have been updated to reflect this.

Updated 27 July 2017

The practice is rated as good for the care of people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable.

The provider had resolved the concerns for safety, effectiveness and how well-led the service was, identified at our inspection on 15 November 2016. These applied to everyone using this practice, including this population group. The population group ratings have been updated to reflect this.