Your GP Circle

Updated 3 February 2022

Your GP Circle is an independent GP consulting service located in Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands. The service has been registered since May 2019 to deliver the following regulated activities: Diagnostic and screening procedures; Maternity and midwifery services; Surgical procedures; and Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

The service is located on the first floor of Ashfurlong Medical Centre within Sutton Medical Consulting Centre (SMCC). SMCC provides the clinical room, some administrative and nursing support to Your GP Circle under a service level agreement. SMCC also holds a separate CQC registration. Your GP Circle provides COVID-19 testing as part of their service, which is also available from a local pharmacy in Birmingham.

The service is a partnership of two GPs (one male and one female). Other staffing includes a third GP and a lead administrator. One of the partners is the Registered Manager for the service. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Patients can access the service by appointment on a pay as you go arrangement, booked through their website or by telephone. Telephone lines are open between 8am and 8pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 4pm on a Saturday. Appointments are face to face or remote. The service is open for face to face appointments on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday and daily for remote consultations, including weekends.

Your GP Circle is not required to provide an out of hours service. Patients who need medical assistance outside core opening hours would need to contact the NHS 111 service or A&E if urgent.

How we inspected this service

During the inspection we spoke with staff, reviewed information made available to us by the provider, reviewed a sample of ten clinical records, made observations and reviewed patient feedback.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we always ask the following five questions:

• Is it safe?
• Is it effective?
• Is it caring?
• Is it responsive to people’s needs?
• Is it well-led?

These questions therefore formed the framework for the areas we looked at during the inspection.

Updated 3 February 2022

This service is rated as Good overall.

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Your GP Circle on 7 January 2022 as part of our inspection programme and to provide a rating for the service.

Your GP Circle provides an independent GP consulting service to children and adults of all ages.

Our key findings were:

• The service provided care in a way that kept patients safe.
• There were effective systems in place to protect patients from avoidable harm.
• Policies and procedures were in place to support the delivery of safe services.
• The provider sought assurance and worked with the host organisation who were responsible for the premises to ensure the safety of patients and staff.
• The practice had systems and processes in place to minimise the risk of infection and had put in place additional measures during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Staff received appropriate training and guidance to deal with medical emergencies. Appropriate medicines and equipment were available in the event of a medical emergency.
• There were systems in place for identifying, acting and learning from incidents and complaints. The provider worked well with the host organisation to support improvements where incidents and complaints crossed organisational boundaries.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs. Our review of clinical records found appropriate care and treatment was being provided.
• We saw examples where information was shared with a patients NHS GP to support the safe care and treatment and continuity of care. However, the provider had not clearly risk assessed where prescribing may not be suitable without consent to share information with the patient’s NHS GP or for recording clear rationale when information is not shared with the patient’s NHS GP but may be clinically appropriate to do so.
• Patients were supported to live healthier lives, through education and support.
• The provider undertook quality improvement activity to support service improvements.
• Staff received appropriate training and competency checks and received annual appraisals to discuss any learning and development needs.
• Services available and fees were clearly displayed on the provider website.
• Staff treated patients with kindness and respect. The practice sought patient feedback and received online reviews which were positive about the service provided.
• Patient’s received timely care and treatment to meet their needs.
• Governance arrangements supported the delivery of safe and effective care.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Improve systems for identifying and sharing information with a patient’s NHS GP where this may be in the patient’s best interests.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care