Background to this inspection
Updated
19 October 2021
The New City Medical Group is located at:
Tatham Street
Sunderland
Tyne and Wear
SR1 2QB
The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening procedures, maternity and midwifery services and treatment of disease, disorder or injury and surgical procedures.
The practice is situated within the Sunderland Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and delivers General Medical Services (GMS) to a patient population of about 5000. This is part of a contract held with NHS England.
The practice is part of a wider network of GP practices and is a member of a primary care network in the Sunderland area.
Information published by Public Health England reported high levels of deprivation within the practice population group. Over 1000 patients were older people, over 3000 were classed as working age adults and over 600 were younger people. The practice population had a slightly higher prevalence for hypertension than the national average and a slightly lower prevalence for obesity.
Due to the enhanced infection prevention and control measures put in place since the pandemic and in line with the national guidance, most GP appointments were telephone consultations. If the GP needed to see a patient face-to-face then the patient was offered that choice.
Extended access and out of hours services were provided locally by a different provider where late evening and weekend appointments are available.
Updated
19 October 2021
We carried out an announced inspection at The New City Medical Group on 14 September 2021. Overall, the practice is rated as Good
The ratings for each key question are:
Safe - Good
Effective – Good
Caring - Good
Responsive - Good
Well-led – Good
Following our previous inspection on 28 February 2019, the practice was rated as Good overall with a Requires Improvement rating in the key question of Safe. This was because the provider had failed to ensure the proper and safe use of medicines.
The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for The New City Medical Group on our website at www.cqc.org.uk
Why we carried out this inspection
This inspection was a focused inspection to follow up on:
- Is the practice Safe?
- Is the practice Effective?
- Is the practice Well-Led
Ratings in the caring and responsive domain are carried forward from the 2019 inspection.
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 and questionnaires.
- 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 found that:
- The practice had made improvements to the way it managed medicines, although further development was required to manage medicine safety alerts.
- The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe, and protected them from avoidable harm. However some areas related to clinical record keeping required development.
- Patients recieved effective care and treatment that met their needs. Where clinical indicators demonstrated that the practice was below average (for the area/compared to England average), such as in cervical screening, measures were in place to improve and accurate figures were being monitored.
- The practice adjusted how it delivered services to meet the needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centred care.
Whilst we found the practice was no longer in breach of regulations, the provider should:
- Continue to develop and improve coding practices within clinical record systems.
- Continue to develop systems to ensure all medicine safety alerts are monitored.
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