We carried out a review of the data available to us about Norton Brook Medical 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 Norton Brook Medical Centre, you can give feedback on this service.
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Norton Brook Medical Centre on 4 July 2017. Overall the practice is rated as good.
Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:
Chief Inspector of General Practice
Norton Brook Medical Centre was inspected on Wednesday 14 October 2014. This was a comprehensive inspection.
Norton Brook Medical Centre provides primary medical services to people living in the town of Kingsbridge, Devon and the surrounding areas. The practice provides services to a homogeneous population group and is situated in a rural location.
At the time of our inspection there were 10,148 patients registered at the service with a team of eight GP partners, two trainee GPs, a practice manager, five nurses, one health care assistant, three phlebotomists and a further 14 administrative staff. GP partners held managerial and financial responsibility for running the business.
Patients who use the practice have access to community staff including district nurses, community psychiatric nurses, health visitors, physiotherapists, mental health staff, counsellors, chiropodist and midwives.
We rated this practice as good.
Our key findings were as follows:
Norton Brook Medical Centre was well organised, clean and tidy. The practice had well maintained facilities and was well equipped to treat patients. There were effective infection control procedures in place. Patients had relatively easy access to appointments at the practice and a named GP which they said improved their continuity of care.
Patient feedback about care and treatment was very positive. The practice had a patient centred culture. Practice staff were well trained and experienced. Staff provided compassionate care to their patients. External stakeholders were very positive about the practice.
The practice had a clear leadership structure in place and was well led. Systems were in place to monitor quality of care and to identify risk and manage emergencies.
Patient’s needs were assessed and care is planned and delivered in line with current legislation. This includes assessment of a patient’s mental capacity to make decisions about their care, and the promotion of good health.
Recruitment, pre-employment checks, induction and appraisal processes were . Staff had received appropriate training for their roles and additional training needs had been identified and planned.
Information about the practice provided evidence that the practice performed comparatively with all other practices within the clinical commissioning group (CCG) area.
Patients told us that they felt safe with the practice staff and confident in clinical decisions made. There were safeguarding procedures in place. Significant events, complaints and incidents were investigated. Improvements made following these events had been discussed and communicated with staff.
We saw several areas of outstanding practice including:
The practice supports patients to receive chemotherapy at the local community hospital to enable their cancer patients to receive their treatment locally. The practice has helped promote this local service with specific fund raising events.
GPs from the practice carry out the ward rounds at the local community hospital which has a 12 bed ward. In this way, the GPs maintain an excellent relationship with patients and staff at the hospital and are able to deliver effective health care.
The practice worked together with two local nutritionists from the a research centre, and was running a pilot study on the use of a lifestyle application for iphones and devices, for patients with pre-diabetes. This helped patients at risk of developing diabetes to improve their health.
Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP
Chief Inspector of General Practice