The Care Quality Commission
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Archived: Station Road Surgery

Overall: Requires improvement read more about inspection ratings

The Surgery, Station Road, Shotton Colliery, County Durham, DH6 2JL (0191) 526 5913

Provided and run by:
Drs Patel, Uehlein & Mudalagiri

Important: The provider of this service changed. See new profile

All Inspections

30 November 2017

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

This practice is rated as requires improvement overall.

At our previous comprehensive inspection of 14 December 2015 the practice was rated as good overall, with requires improvement for the domain of safe and good for the domains of effective, caring, responsive and well-led.

This inspection was an announced inspection carried out on 30 November 2017. This was to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches in regulations that we identified in our previous inspection on 14 December 2015. W e inspected this service as part of our comprehensive inspection programme.

At our inspection of 30 November 2017, the key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Requires improvement

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Requires improvement

As part of our inspection process, we also look at the quality of care for specific population groups. The population groups are rated as:

Older People – Requires improvement

People with long-term conditions – Requires improvement

Families, children and young people – Requires improvement

Working age people (including those recently retired and students – Requires improvement

People whose circumstances may make them vulnerable – Requires improvement

People experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia) - Requires improvement

The population groups are rated requires improvement overall because t here are aspects of the practice that require improvement which therefore has an impact on all population groups. There were, however, examples of good practice.

At this inspection we found:

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

  • 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.

  • Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.

  • Patients found the appointment system easy to use and reported that they were able to access care when they needed it.

  • 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.
  • The practice was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.

The areas where the provider must make improvements as they are in breach of regulations are (See Requirement Notice Section at the end of this report for further detail);

  • Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

  • Ensure persons employed in the provision of the regulated activity receive the appropriate appraisal necessary to enable them to carry out the duties.

  • Risk assess the need to have a paediatric pulse oximeter.

  • Carry out regular fire drills.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

14 December 2015

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out this comprehensive inspection on 14 December 2015.

Overall, we rated this practice as good.

Specifically, we found the practice to require improvement for providing safe services. The practice was good for providing effective, caring and responsive services, and for being well led.

Our key findings were as follows:

  • The practice provided a good standard of care, led by current best practice guidelines.

  • Staff had received training appropriate to their roles and any further training needs had been identified and planned. There was a well-developed training and personal development culture within the practice.

  • We found some incidents within the practice were recorded inconsistently. It was not possible to fully verify that recording, monitoring and reviewing activity was accurate.It was not always possible to tell what actions had been taken, who was responsible for these, and what the eventual outcomes were.

  • Some risks to patients had not had a full or up to date assessment, and other risks had not been kept under review.

  • Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment. Information was provided to help patients understand the care available to them.

  • The practice actively reviewed their performance in the management of long term conditions, and was proactive in offering review and screening services. The practice had tailored how clinics were run and staff skill mix, to improve the patient's journey in the management of long-term conditions.

  • There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management.

However, there were also areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

The provider should:

  • Ensure that learning from incidents and complaints is fully recorded and cascaded to maximise learning opportunities.

  • Ensure systems are in place to regularly review and update risk assessments to mitigate the risks to patients, staff and visitors to the practice.

  • Ensure processes are in place for daily temperature monitoring of medicines fridges in the event of staff sickness or other absence.

  • Improve the programme of clinical audit such that completed audits able to demonstrate a change in patient outcome are available.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice