The Care Quality Commission
  • Doctor
  • GP practice

The Laurie Pike Health Centre

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

2 Fentham Road, Aston, Birmingham, West Midlands, B6 6BB (0121) 817 3560

Provided and run by:
Modality Partnership

Important: The provider of this service changed - see old profile

All Inspections

6 July 2023

During a monthly review of our data

We carried out a review of the data available to us about The Laurie Pike Health Centre on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.

This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.

If you have concerns about The Laurie Pike Health Centre, you can give feedback on this service.

7 September 2021

During a routine inspection

We carried out an announced inspection at The Laurie Pike Health Centre on 7 September 2021. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.

Safe - Good

Effective – Requires improvement

Caring - Good

Responsive - Good

Well-led - Good

Following our previous inspection on 4 March 2020, the practice was rated Requires Improvement overall and for all key questions except for caring, which was rated good.

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

Why we carried out this inspection

This inspection was a comprehensive follow-up inspection and included the key questions: safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led. We also followed up on:

  • Any breaches of regulations and ‘shoulds’ identified in the previous 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 / telephone
  • Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system and discussing findings with the provider
  • Reviewing the quality of patient records
  • Requesting evidence from the provider before and after the inspection site vist.

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 rated this practice as Good overall and Good for providing safe, caring, responsive and well-led services. We have rated the practice as Requires improvement for providing effective services and Requires improvement for the Working age people and Families, children and young people population groups.

We found that:

  • The practice had acted to improve infection prevention and control systems so that the practice management team were assured that appropriate cleaning standards were being met. We saw the practice was undergoing building renovation work at the time of the inspection. There was a plan in place to complete all outstanding actions that had been identified following infection control audits and other building risk assessments.
  • The practice monitored their performance and had plans in place to deal with any backlogs the COVID-19 pandemic had caused.
  • Although the lead GP had reviewed systems and processes, the practice could not demonstrate that the uptake of cervical cancer screening and childhood immunisations had improved.
  • The practice responded appropriately to complaints and we found that staff had received training to ensure patients were dealt with kindness and respect.
  • The practice adjusted how it delivered services to meet the needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found the practice had taken appropriate action to improve access to care and treatment.
  • There had been a change in leadership since the last inspection and the way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centred care.

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

  • Review and improve communication methods between the provider and the practice so that relevant staff are kept informed of any actions and changes to processes or policies..
  • Review and improve systems to manage staff recruitment files so that staff information can be monitored more effectively.
  • Continue to review and improve infection prevention and control systems.
  • Continue to explore alternative methods to engage the community and improve the uptake of cervical cancer screening and childhood immunisations.
  • Continue to review and improve systems to identify carers (including young carers), so that carers are being supported appropriately.

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

4 March 2020

During a routine inspection

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The Laurie Pike Health Centre on 4 March 2020 as part of our inspection programme. As part of our inspection we also visited the practices branch surgery, Shanklin House Surgery.

The practice’s last comprehensive inspection took place on the 27 February 2019 and received a rating of requires improvement overall. Specifically, the practice was rated as requires improvement for providing safe, responsive and well-led services. The practice also had a focussed inspection on 6 February 2020 where we looked at effective services for people with long term conditions only, this was a responsive inspection where we did not rate this area of care however all areas have been rated for this inspection under our comprehensive methodology. At this inspection we also followed up on breaches of regulations identified at the previous comprehensive inspection on 27 February 2019.

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 requires improvement overall and requires improvement for all population groups.

We rated the practice as requires improvement for providing safe, effective, responsive and well-led services.

  • The practice did not always operate effective processes for identifying, managing and mitigating risks, we noted ongoing gaps in evidence to support this, at this inspection.
  • At our last inspection we found that the practices governance arrangements were not effective in supporting adequate infection prevention and control. At this inspection we noted some improvements however there were ongoing gaps in record keeping to support good infection control practices.
  • We noted a decline in patient satisfaction rates across areas, particularly with regards to accessing the practice by phone.
  • The practice could not demonstrate improved uptake for childhood immunisations and cervical screening amongst the families, children and young people and working age population groups.

Difficulties in accessing the practice by telephone affected all population groups therefore the ratings for all population groups were requires improvement.

We rated the practice as good for providing caring services.

  • Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
  • Although results from the January/March 2019 national GP patient survey showed a decline in satisfaction rates regarding care and treatment, internal surveys carried out by the practice since this time showed improvements.
  • The practice continued to focus on supporting their carers and patients with dementia, ensuring that support was in place and care needs were met.

The areas where the provider must make improvements are:

  • Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

  • Explore ways of delivering further improvements in response to areas where patients satisfaction remains low.
  • Continue to explore ways of improving uptake rates for childhood immunisations and cervical screening.
  • Continue to engage patients in reviews and further reduce exception reporting rates.

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

6 February 2020

During an inspection looking at part of the service

We carried out an announced focussed inspection at The Laurie Pike Health Centre on 6 February 2020 following concerns we had received around the management of patients with long term conditions.

This inspection looked at how effective services were for the population group ‘people with long term conditions’.

We found that:

  • Staff had appropriate support and supervision from GPs.
  • Nursing staff were working within their competencies, and those staff caring for and treating patients with long term conditions had received appropriate training.
  • From patient records we reviewed we found that not all patients with diabetes had received effective care and monitoring in line with national guidelines.
  • The practice was aware their pathway for recalling patients was not effective and had implemented a revised system for coordinating their recalls in January 2020.

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

  • Continue to monitor and improve their systems and pathways for the management of patients with diabetes.

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

27 February 2019

During a routine inspection

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The Laurie Pike Health Centre on 27 February 2019. As part of this inspection we also visited the practices branch surgery; Shanklin House Surgery.

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 requires improvement overall.

We rated the practice as requires improvement for providing safe, responsive and well-led services because:

  • Feedback from patients was positive about the way staff treated people however there was a theme in feedback highlighting that patients struggled to access the service in a timely way.
  • Although we noted many changes implemented to improve access, the practice could not demonstrate the impact of these changes at the time of our inspection.
  • There were clear responsibilities, roles and systems of accountability in place however these systems did not always reflect good governance. For instance, we found gaps in some of the processes for managing risks and issues across various areas.
  • The practice could not provide evidence to assure us that appropriate standards of cleanliness and hygiene were always met. Specifically, we identified gaps in the record keeping to support adequate infection prevention control.
  • Although there was evidence of staff and external partner involvement to sustain high quality and sustainable, in some areas patient engagement had lapsed.

These areas affected all population groups so we rated all population groups as requires improvement.

We rated the practice as good for providing effective and caring services because:

  • Quality and performance was positive across various care areas and where performance was below average, such as for cervical screening and exception rates; the practice could demonstrate improvement.
  • Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.

The areas where the provider must make improvements are:

  • Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.

(Please see the specific details on action required at the end of this report).

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

  • Continue to explore ways of improving uptake rates for childhood immunisations, cervical and bowel cancer screening.
  • Explore ways of improving confidentiality measures for patients attending the branch practice at Shanklin House Surgery.
  • Ensure fire safety measures provide details on fire assembly points for people for service users and staff at the branch practice, Shanklin House Surgery.
  • Improve record keeping to reflect actions taken following the management of safety alerts and for the monitoring of prescription stationery.

We saw one area of outstanding practice:

The practice held carers events across multiple days during June and November 2018. The aim of the event was to increase awareness, identification of carers and to offer support and general health checks, screening and depression checks to their carers. The practice also used the event as an opportunity to carry out health checks for carers in addition to care plans for patients with Dementia. The practice carried out 52 health checks during the events and 13 Dementia care plans. Through these checks, clinicians also addressed biological, psychological and social issues and supported patients to make positive changes. In addition, a carers session called ‘Making Space’ was implemented at the practice every two weeks.

Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP
Chief Inspector of General Practice

5 March 2015

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We completed a comprehensive inspection at Laurie Pike Health Centre on 5 March 2015. The overall rating for the practice is good. We found the practice to be good in the safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led domains.

Our key findings were as follows:

  • Systems were in place to ensure that all staff had access to relevant national patient safety alerts. Staff worked together as a team to ensure they provided safe, co-ordinated patient care.
  • Infection prevention and control systems were well managed and staff had received appropriate training.
  • Staff were friendly, caring and respected patient confidentiality. Patients we spoke with said that all staff were compassionate, listened to what they had to say and treated them with respect. We observed that staff at the reception desk maintained patient’s confidentiality.
  • There was a register of all vulnerable patients who were reviewed regularly. Patients we spoke with told us they were satisfied with the care they received and their medicines were regularly reviewed. GPs carried out clinical audits to check that patients received the correct medicines for their health needs.
  • The practice had a clear vision to deliver high quality care and promote good outcomes for patients. This was evident when speaking with staff and patients during our inspection. There was a clear leadership structure with named staff in lead roles.
  • Teams of specialist staff were shared with other practices within the Vitality Partnership. Each team consisted of GPs and nurse who had specialist knowledge in dermatology and rheumatoid arthritis. The teams held regular clinical sessions at the practice to assess and treat patients who had skin and long term joint conditions. These patients would otherwise have been referred to a hospital.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice