Archived: Newcastle Medical Centre

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Newcastle Medical Centre on 13 October 2015. Overall the practice is rated as requires improvement.

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 and staff were assessed and managed.
• Data showed patient outcomes were below average for the locality. Although some audits had been carried out, we saw limited evidence that audits were driving improvement in performance to improve patient outcomes.
• Cervical screening and childhood immunisation rates were both below national averages.
• Results from the National GP Patient Survey showed patients were generally happy with how they were treated and that this was with compassion, dignity and respect. The practice was above or in line with local and national averages for its satisfaction scores on consultations with GPs and below local and national averages for nurses.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand. The practice had received six formal complaints within the last 12 months.
• The practice held a walk-in surgery Monday to Friday. Every patient who presented at the practice between 8am and 9am were guaranteed to see a GP the same day.
• Urgent appointments were usually available on the day they were requested.
• The practice had a number of policies and procedures to govern activity. The practice held regular meetings and issues were discussed at staff and clinical team meetings.
• There was a limited approach to obtaining the views of patients and other stakeholders. The practice did not have a patient participation group (PPG).
• The practice’s mission statement, as stated on the practice website, was not embedded among the staff who worked there.

The areas where the provider must make improvements are:

• The practice must ensure that patients identified as needing an agreed care plan have them in place and that it meets their specific needs. This includes patients with mental health needs and those with complex needs.
• The practice must take immediate action to ensure its recruitment arrangements are in line with Schedule 3 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 to ensure necessary employment checks are in place for all staff. Specifically, this includes completing Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks for those staff that need them.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Ensure that fire drill procedures become embedded among staff and that staff complete fire safety training.
• Ensure that accurate records are maintained regarding prescription forms for audit trail purposes.
• Ensure records are maintained to demonstrate the maintenance, servicing and calibration of equipment in the practice.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice