Wearside Medical Practice

Updated 29 July 2022

Wearside Medical Centre is located in Sunderland City at: Pallion Health Centre Hylton Road Sunderland SR4 7XF

The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening procedures, maternity and midwifery services and treatment of disease, disorder or injury and surgical procedures.

The practice is situated within the Sunderland Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and delivers General Medical Services (GMS) to a patient population of about 7,692. This is part of a contract held with NHS England. Information published by Public Health England shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the second lowest decile (two of 10). The lower the decile, the more deprived the practice population is relative to others. According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the practice area is 6.8% Asian, 90.8% White, and 2.4% other. The age distribution of the practice population closely mirrors the local and national averages.

The practice is managed by one GP along with one salaried GP and two further GPs who are long term locum GPs. However, one of those GPs is to become a partner in the practice. The practice has an advanced nurse practitioner and two practice nurses who lead clinics for long-term conditions. There is also a palliative liaison nurse and a pharmacist on a part time basis. The practice has two health care assistants, one of which is undertaking nurse associate training. GPs are supported at the practice by the practice manager and a team of reception/administration staff.

The practice is open between 8am am to 6pm Monday to Friday. The practice offers a range of appointment types including book on the day, telephone consultations and advance appointments.

The Practice can arrange an appointment for patients in the Extended Access between 6:00pm and 8:00pm weekdays across the City (Riverview/Southwick/Washington/Pallion/Houghton). Weekends 9:00am – 5:00pm. These appointments are for acute cases only and accessible to all Sunderland GP Practices. Out of hours services are provided by telephoning 111.

Updated 29 July 2022

We carried out an announced inspection at Wearside Medical Practice on 27 May 2022.

Overall, the practice is rated as good.
Set out the ratings for each key question
Safe - Good
Effective - Good
Caring - Good
Responsive - Good
Well-led - Good

Following our previous inspection on 31 August 2016 the practice was rated Good overall and for all key questions.
The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Wearside Medical Practice on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection.
This inspection was a comprehensive inspection as part of our inspection programme.

How we carried out the inspection/review
Throughout the pandemic CQC has continued to regulate and respond to risk. However, taking into account the circumstances arising as a result of the pandemic, and in order to reduce risk, we have conducted our inspections differently.
This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site. This was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements.

This included:

• Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing
• Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system and discussing findings with the provider
• Reviewing patient records to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider
• Requesting evidence from the provider
• A short site visit
• Staff questionnaires

Our findings:

We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service on a combination of:
• what we found when we inspected
• information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services and
• information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.
We have rated this practice as Good overall.

We found that:

• The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.

• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.

• Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.

• The practice adjusted how it delivered services to meet the needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.

• The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centered care.
The practice also advocated domestic abuse awareness and the practice manager was the champion for the practice.

• The practice had achieved gold standard level for patients with a learning disability from Sunderland clinical commissioning group. This entailed audits demonstrating that those patients eligible on the learning disability register had an annual health check between April 1st 2021 and March 2022.

The practice should:
Ensure that all reviews of patients with long-term conditions continue to follow relevant best practice guidance and patients are recalled for reviews in a timely way.