The Care Quality Commission
  • Doctor
  • GP practice

The Sele Medical Practice

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Hexham Primary Care Centre, Corbridge Road, Hexham, Northumberland, NE46 1QJ (01434) 602237

Provided and run by:
The Sele Medical Practice

All Inspections

During an assessment under our new approach

Date of Assessment: 31 July 2026. The Sele Medical Practice is a GP practice and delivers services to approximately 5,900 people under a contract held with NHS England. According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the service area is approximately 97.9% White, 0.8% Asian, 0.1% Black, 0.9% Mixed ethnicity and 0.2% Other ethnic groups. Information published by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities shows deprivation within the service population group is in the 8th decile (8 of 10). The lower the decile, the more deprived the service population is relative to others.

This was a focused assessment. We undertook this assessment due to the length of time since our last assessment. We assessed 10 quality statements from across all 5 key questions. This assessment considered the demographics of the people using the service, the context the service was working within and how this impacted service delivery. Where relevant, further commentary is provided in the quality statements section of this report.

Staff kept facilities clean and maintained equipment appropriately to ensure people were kept safe. They assessed and managed the risk of infection well and took steps to control the risk of it spreading. There were enough staff with the right skills, qualifications and experience.

Staff supported people to live healthier lives, monitoring their care and treatment to ensure they received positive and consistent outcomes.

Staff treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion, and respected their privacy and dignity.

People could access care, treatment and support when they needed it. Leaders and staff were alert to discrimination and inequality that could disadvantage groups of people who used the service and sought ways to address any barriers.

The provider had a clear vision and strategy, which considered the needs of the people who used their service and the wider community. Staff understood their individual roles and responsibilities. Leaders accounted for the actions, behaviours and performance of staff through clear and effective governance processes.

 

24/01/2020

During an inspection looking at part of the service

We carried out an inspection of this service following our annual review of the information available to us including information provided by the practice. Our review indicated that there may have been a significant change to the quality of care provided since the last inspection.

This inspection focused on the following key questions:

  • is the practice effective;
  • is it caring;
  • is it well-led?

Because of the assurance received from our review of information we carried forward the ratings for the following key questions:

  • is the practice safe;
  • is it responsive?

The practice is rated good for providing safe services, and outstanding for responsiveness.

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 and good for all population groups.

We found that:

  • Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
  • Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
  • The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centred care.

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

16 February 2016

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The Sele Medical Practice on 16 February 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good. The practice is rated outstanding for responsive services and good for providing safe, effective, caring and well-led services.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

  • Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and report incidents and near misses.

  • Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
  • Outcomes for patients who use services were good.
  • Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance.
  • Staff were consistent and proactive in supporting patients to live healthier lives through a targeted approach to health promotion. Information was provided to patients to help them understand the care and treatment available

  • Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment. Scores from the National GP Patient Survey were higher than local and national averages, for example, 97% of patients said the last GP they saw was good at explaining tests and treatments compared to the CCG average of 89.3% and the national average of 86%.

  • The practice worked closely with other organisations and with the local community in planning how services were provided to ensure that they meet patients’ needs, for example, they were the sole GP service providing care to a specialist learning disability residential unit for people with severe behavioural and mental health problems.

  • The practice had a system in place for handling complaints and concerns and responded quickly to any complaints.
  • Patients said they were able to get an appointment with a GP when they needed one, with urgent appointments available the same day.
  • The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
  • There was a clear leadership structure in place and staff felt supported by management. The practice sought feedback from staff and patients, which they acted on.
  • Staff throughout the practice worked well together as a team.

We saw three areas of outstanding practice which included:

  • The practice carried out a high number of clinical audits to monitor and improve patient care. They could show how this had impacted on patient care.

  • The practice provided health education evenings for patients to promote good health. The sessions were three or four times a year and various healthcare topics were presented by one of the GPs or a health care professional, for approximately 45 minutes. These had been held since 2012 and attendances were between nine and 45 patients. Topics included, for example, cholesterol, eye conditions and the next session was on bowel cancer.

  • The practice were responsive to vulnerable people they worked closely with other organisations and with the local community in planning how services were provided to ensure that they meet patients’ needs, for example, they were the sole GP service providing care to a specialist learning disability residential unit for people with severe behavioural and mental health problems.

    The area where the provider should make improvements is:

  • Reconsider training for staff, they had not received health and safety or equality and diversity training and some staff had not received safeguarding adults training.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice