Greystoke Surgery

Updated 19 July 2018

Greystoke Surgery provides care and treatment to around 9,400 patients in Morpeth, Northumberland. The practice is part of Northumberland clinical commissioning group (CCG) and operates on a Personal Medical Services (PMS) contract agreement for general practice.

The practice provides services from the following address, which we visited during this inspection:

• Morpeth NHS Centre, The Mount, Morpeth, Northumberland, NE61 1JX

The surgery is located in a purpose built two storey building. Patient facilities are on the first floor. There is a designated car park, accessible parking, an accessible WC, a lift to the first floor, wheelchair and step-free access.

Patients can book appointments in person, on-line or by telephone.

The practice is part of a local hub which provides extended opening hours for patients; appointments are available Monday to Friday between 6.30pm and 8pm.

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

The practice has:

• Six GP partners (three female and three male),
• two salaried GPs (one female and one male,
• four practice nurses (all female),
• two healthcare assistants,
• a practice manager,
• two medicines managers,
• a phlebotomist, and
• 16 staff who carry out reception and administrative duties.

The practice is a training practice and two of the GPs are accredited GP trainers. At the time of the inspection two trainee GPs were working at the practice.

The age profile of the practice population is in line with the local and national averages, but is made up of a higher than average proportion of patients over the age 75 (13% compared to the national average of 10%). Information taken from Public Health England placed the area in which the practice is located in the third less deprived decile. In general, people living in more deprived areas tend to have greater need for health services.

Updated 19 July 2018

This practice is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspection July 2015 – Good)

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Outstanding

Are services well-led? - Good

We carried out an announced inspection at Greystoke Surgery on 8 June 2018 as part of our inspection programme.

At this inspection we found:

• The practice had systems to keep patients safe and safeguarded from abuse.
• The practice routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care they provided. They ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.
• Outcomes for patients were consistently better than expected.
• Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect. Patient feedback was very positive.
• The practice organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs. They took account of patients’ needs and preferences.
• Patients could access services and appointments in way and at a time that suited them.
• There was a focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation. The practice proactively used performance information to drive improvement.
• The practice had some systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. However, arrangements for managing and monitoring infection control processes required improvement.
• Some staff training was incomplete; this included training on infection control, fire safety and CPR updates.

We saw some areas of outstanding practice:

• The practice had effective arrangements in place to monitor patients to ensure they received the right care and treatment. Outcomes for patients were consistently good; the practice achieved high scores in the Quality and Outcomes Framework and had a very low exception rate; uptake rates for breast and bowel cancer screening were well above average; childhood immunisation rates and cervical screening rates were very high.
• The practice offered annual health checks to patients with a learning disability. Following this a written care plan was agreed and sent to the patient; 92% of the 37 patients on the register had agreed care plans in place.
• A new appointments system had been introduced in 2017 which provided same day access for patients. This system enabled appointments and telephone calls to be arranged for a convenient time for the patient. The lengths of each appointment were tailored to the needs of the patient and the complexity and/or number of health issues to be covered. Data showed that this approach increased the number of appointments available (by 18%) and reduced the DNA (did not attend) rate (by 83%).

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Carry out regular infection control audits to ensure appropriate standards are being maintained.
• Take steps to provide staff with appropriate training on infection control, fire safety and CPR.
• Develop a system to increase identification of patients who are also carers.
• Carry out the remaining appraisals for administrative staff.
• Review staff’s professional registration status on a regular basis to obtain assurance they remain appropriately registered.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP
Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 19 July 2018

Updated 19 July 2018

Updated 19 July 2018

Updated 19 July 2018

Updated 19 July 2018

Updated 19 July 2018