Kenton Bridge Medical Centre

We carried out an announced inspection at Kenton Bridge Medical Centre on 7-10 December 2021. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.

Safe - Good

Effective - Good

Well-led - Good

Following our previous inspection on 16 May 2019, the practice was rated good overall and for all key questions except Safe which was rated as requires improvement. This was because the practice did not have adequate recruitment checks in place and could not demonstrate how it was learning from incidents and complaints.

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Kenton Bridge Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection

This inspection was a focused inspection to follow up on:

• Our key questions of Safe, Effective and Well-Led
• Previous breaches of regulations 12 (Safe Care and Treatment) and 18 (Staffing)
• Previous recommendations for improvement
• Access to the practice during the pandemic

How we carried out the inspection

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
• 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 overall

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. Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
• The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.

Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:

• Ensure all its staff records include required and relevant evidence and documents in relation to recruitment and appraisal.
• Continue work to improve childhood immunisation and cervical screening uptake rates in line with national guidance and targets.
• Ensure staff are aware of the practice mission statement and values and are involved in any further development work on these aspects of the service.

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