The Care Quality Commission
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  • GP practice

Castlehead Medical Centre

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Ambleside Road, Keswick, Cumbria, CA12 4DB (017687) 72025

Provided and run by:
Castlehead Medical Centre

Latest inspection summary

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Background to this inspection

Updated 9 February 2018

Castlehead Medical Centre is located in the town of Keswick in Cumbria and is registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide primary care services to patients living in the town and surrounding rural areas.

The practice provides services to around 8,000 patients on a General Medical Services contract from one location:

  • Castlehead Medical Centre, Ambleside Road, Keswick, Cumbria CA12 4DB.

GPs from the practice also deliver daily sessions and clinics at the Keswick Cottage Hospital, which patients from the practice attend. We visited both the registered address and the relevant areas of the cottage hospital site during this inspection.

Castlehead Medical Centre is the only GP surgery in Keswick, following the closure of a neighbouring surgery in May 2017. The patient lists were subsequently merged and staff from the practice which closed joined the team at Castlehead. The practice is located in a purpose-built, two-storey building dating from the 1990s. All patient facilities are situated on the ground floor, including six GP consulting rooms, three treatment rooms and a dispensary. It also offers on-site parking, wheelchair and step-free access.

The practice has five GP partners (two female, three male), three salaried GPs (three female), three practice nurses, two health care assistants (one of whom also works as a dispensary assistant), two dispensary technicians, a dispensary manager, a practice manager, an assistant practice manager, 11 reception and administrative staff (including a medical secretary) and two cleaning staff.

Opening times at the practice are 8am to 6pm on a Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday; and 8am to 8pm on a Tuesday. Outside of these times, a pre-recorded message directs patients to 999 emergency services, NHS 111 or out-of-hours providers, as appropriate

The practice is part of North Cumbria clinical commissioning group (CCG). Information taken from Public Health England places the area in which the practice is located in the second least deprived decile. In general, people living in more deprived areas tend to have greater need for health services. The practice’s age distribution profile is weighted towards an older population than the national average. There are higher-than-average numbers of patients registered with the practice for all age groups over 50, and below average numbers for all age groups under 40.

The service for patients requiring urgent medical attention out-of-hours is provided by Cumbria Health On Call Limited (CHOC) and the NHS 111 service.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 9 February 2018

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

This practice is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspection November 2014 – Good)

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

As part of our inspection process, we also look at the quality of care for specific population groups. The population groups are rated as:

Older People – Good

People with long-term conditions – Good

Families, children and young people – Good

Working age people (including those recently retired and students – Good

People whose circumstances may make them vulnerable – Good

People experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia) - Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Castlehead Medical Practice on 15 December 2017 as part of our inspection programme.

At this inspection we found:

  • The practice had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the practice learned from them and improved their processes.

  • The practice routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.

  • Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.

  • Patients found the appointment system easy to use and reported that they were able to access care when they needed it.

  • The practice worked closely with other healthcare professionals in the area to offer a range of services to patients, such as a falls clinic and a minor injuries clinic.

  • There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.

  • On the day of inspection we saw some staff at the practice had not completed some annual mandatory training in the past 12 months. Some staff had also not received training at a level appropriate to their role. However, we were sent evidence by the practice to show that this had been rectified shortly after the inspection.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

  • Continue to carry out annual fire drills at regular intervals

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice