The Care Quality Commission
  • Doctor
  • GP practice

Archived: JR Nathan

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Riverview Health Centre, Borough Road, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, SR1 2HJ (0191) 565 3040

Provided and run by:
JR Nathan

All Inspections

15 September 2015

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

  • Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and to report incidents and near misses. Information about safety was recorded, monitored, appropriately reviewed and addressed.
  • Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
  • Staff had generally received training appropriate to their roles, however, some gaps and further training needs had been identified and planned for completion. Staff felt supported and team working was demonstrated.
  • Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment. They also told us the practice was very clean.
  • Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand, however, patients told us they were not aware of how to make a complaint.
  • Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and that there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.
  • The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
  • There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
  • The practice worked well with commissioners and other organisations to ensure relevant services were available to support patients to manage their own care; for example, the recent provision of a pulmonary rehabilitation service.

We saw one area of outstanding practice:

  • The practice had initiated a comprehensive extended hours service as part of the project in the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) locality. The practice had led, and still managed the provision of this service for the locality which provides 7 day access to primary care and aims to reduce demand at Accident and Emergency. This was based in the practice building and ensured consistency of care and reflected the needs of the local population in a deprived area. The service uses locality clinicians to provide care for locality patients.

However there were areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

Importantly the provider should:

  • Review its policies and procedures to ensure they reflect current guidance and best practice. For example, recruitment policies made reference to primary care trusts. The business continuity plan did not include contact details for key services. The safeguarding policy did not reflect current local organisational structures.
  • Ensure evidence based care is planned and delivered by introducing care plans for suitable groups of patients and individuals.
  • Ensure that the views of patients are represented at the practice by reviewing the patient participation group arrangement currently in place.
  • Ensure staff are provided with appropriate training to specifically ensure that information governance training is provided for all staff and infection control training is provided for the Infection Control lead.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

26 August 2014

During a routine inspection

The practice is located in Riverview Health Centre, Sunderland and provides primary medical care services to patients living in the Hendon, Grangetown and central areas of the City of Sunderland. The practice does not have any branch surgeries, so the inspection was focused on this location.

Before the inspection we held a listening event where members of the public could tell us about their experiences of GP services within Sunderland. We also asked patients prior to our visit to complete CQC comment cards about their experiences of the service they had received. We spoke with representatives from the Patient Participation Group (PPG) and patients attending for appointments during the inspection. We spoke with all of the staff working in the practice on the day of the inspection.

Processes are in place to identify unsafe practices, and measures put in place to prevent avoidable harm to people. The practice learned from incidents and took action to prevent a recurrence.

Care and treatment is being delivered in line with current published best practice. Patients’ needs are being met and referrals to other services are made in a timely manner. The practice is regularly undertaking clinical audit.

All of the patients we spoke with said they are treated with respect and dignity by the practice staff at all times. Patients also reported they feel involved in all decisions surrounding their care or treatment.

Patients said they are satisfied with the appointment systems operated by the practice. The practice has a policy for handling any concerns or complaints people raised.

There is an established management structure within the practice. Staff demonstrated an understanding of their areas of responsibility and reported feeling supported, motivated and valued by their peers.

Please note that when referring to information throughout this report, for example any reference to the Quality and Outcomes Framework data, this relates to the most recent information available to the CQC at that time.