Background to this inspection
Updated
4 October 2021
Felton Surgery is located in Felton at:
Main Street
Felton
NE65 9PR
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 Northumberland Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and delivers General Medical Services (GMS) to a patient population of about 1710. This is part of a contract held with NHS England.
The practice is part of a wider network of GP practices and is a member of a primary care network in the Morpeth area.
Information published by Public Health England reported low levels of deprivation within the practice population group. Over 500 patients were older people, over 900 were classed as working age adults and over 200 were younger people. The practice population had a slightly higher prevalence for diabetes than the national average and a lower prevalence for obesity.
Both clinical and administration staff worked between Felton Surgery and another practice, Widderington Surgery in Morpeth. Widderington Surgery is under a different registration and is operated by a GP partnership. The partnership at Widdrington Surgery includes the provider who operates Felton Surgery.
Due to the enhanced infection prevention and control measures put in place since the pandemic and in line with the national guidance, most GP appointments were telephone consultations. If the GP needed to see a patient face-to-face then the patient was offered that choice.
Extended access and out of hours services are provided locally by a different provider where late evening and weekend appointments are available.
Updated
4 October 2021
We carried out an announced inspection at Felton Surgery on the 2 September 2021. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.
Set out the ratings for each key question
Safe - Good
Effective - Good
Caring – Not rated at this inspection
Responsive – Not Rated at this inspection
Well-led – Requires Improvement
Following our previous inspection on 14 February 2017, 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 Felton Surgery on our website at www.cqc.org.uk
Why we carried out this inspection
This was an announced focused inspection following information of concern we received around how the practice was led.
We inspected the key areas of:
Are services safe?
Are services effective?
Are services well led?
Ratings in the caring and responsive domain are carried forward from the 2017 inspection.
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 and questionnaires.
- 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
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 and Good for all population groups.
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.
- The practice adjusted how it delivered services to meet the needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care. Despite this we identified from feedback received that staff struggled to have their voices and issues heard by the leadership team leaving them feeling undervalued and not listened to
Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:
- Continue to develop and improve the relationship and collaboration between the leadership team and staff
- Continue to ensure that staff receive their annual appraisal.
Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.
Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care