Northgate Health Centre

On this page

• Overview
• Learning culture
• Safe systems, pathways and transitions
• Safeguarding
• Involving people to manage risks
• Safe environments
• Safe and effective staffing
• Infection prevention and control
• Medicines optimisation

We looked for evidence that people were protected from abuse and avoidable harm.

This is the first inspection for this service since its registration with CQC. This key question has been rated as good.

The practice operated systems and processes to protect people from avoidable harm. There were effective safeguarding processes in place. Premises and equipment were maintained and hygienic. Medicines were managed effectively.

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The service had a proactive and positive culture of safety, based on openness and honesty. Leaders listened to concerns about safety and investigated and reported on as part of a process of reviewing significant events. Lessons were learnt to continually identify and embed good practice. Staff felt able to raise concerns and that their feedback was valued and learned from. Incidents were investigated and learnt from.

The service worked with people and healthcare partners to establish and maintain safe systems of care, in which safety was managed or monitored. They made sure there was continuity of care, including when people moved between different services. There was a system for managing referrals and patient information received by the practice from external providers. Referrals and test results were managed in a timely way.

The service worked with people and healthcare partners to helped safeguard people from potential harm. There were registers of people who were at potential risk of harm. Information was shared with agencies where necessary. Safeguarding policies were in place and available to staff, who were appropriately trained in safeguarding procedures.

They provided care to meet people’s needs that was safe, supportive and enabled people to do the things that mattered to them.

Emergency equipment was available and maintained. Staff could recognise a deteriorating patient and knew of action to take. The appointment system enabled staff to escalate any concerns at the point of triage, to a duty doctor who could assess urgency based on clinical risk.

The service detected and controlled potential risks in the care environment. They made sure equipment, facilities and technology supported the delivery of safe care.

Contracts were in place to ensure the premises were maintained. Health and safety risk assessments and audits had been undertaken and risks identified had been addressed. There was a business continuity plan in place which was monitored and reviewed.

The service ensured there were enough qualified, skilled and experienced staff, who received effective support and training to undertake their roles. We found training was up to date, learning needs and development of staff was managed appropriately, and staff were working within their agreed areas of competence. Safe recruitment practices were followed. Supervision for non-medical prescribers was in place, and the practice introduced formal auditing of this prescribing as result of the inspection findings.

The service assessed and managed the risk of infection. An infection prevention and control policy, audit tool and checks were in place. Actions related to audit outcomes were taken. Staff received relevant training to their role and there was a designated lead.

The service made sure that medicines and treatments were safe and met people’s needs, capacities and preferences. They involved people in planning, including when changes happened. We undertook extensive searches on the clinical system to identify whether repeat prescribing of high-risk medicines was managed safely. We found that systems were operated effectively for patient recall where tests were needed to maintain the safety of prescribing. Safety alerts were acted on to ensure any risks to patients were identified and mitigated wherever possible. However, one safety alert had not been effectively managed. The practice immediately reviewed all patients and implemented a checking system for this alert to ensure patients would be identified and alerted to clinicians in future. The process for recording patients routine prescribing reviews was amended in response to the inspection findings.

Vaccine fridges were monitored and utilised in line with guidance. Stocks of non-refrigerated medicines were stored securely and appropriately.