The Care Quality Commission
  • Doctor
  • GP practice

Priory Gate Practice

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

1st Floor City of Coventry Health Centre, 2 Stoney Stanton Road, Coventry, West Midlands, CV1 4FS (024) 7696 1370

Provided and run by:
Priory Gate Practice

All Inspections

6 July 2023

During a monthly review of our data

We carried out a review of the data available to us about Priory Gate Practice 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 Priory Gate Practice, you can give feedback on this service.

4 August 2022

During a routine inspection

We carried out an announced inspection at Priory Gate Practice on 4 August 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.

The ratings for each key question:

Safe – Good

Effective – Requires improvement.

Caring - Good.

Responsive - Good.

Well-led – Good.

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 in person and on the phone
  • 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 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 have rated this practice as Good overall

We found that:

  • The service had good systems to ensure patients received safe and mainly effective care and treatment.
  • We observed staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect.
  • The practice adjusted how it delivered services to meet the needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
  • There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The practice sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
  • The practice operated effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care. The provider were aware of areas which required strengthening; such as medicines management and actions were ongoing.
  • The practice team demonstrated a commitment to learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.
  • There was an effective system to identify and safeguard people from abuse. Clinical staff received regular updates, training and took steps to ensure they were familiar with the most recent clinical guidelines.

However we also found that:

  • The practice was not routinely using data to monitor or drive the effectiveness of national screening and immunisation programmes. In particular, childhood immunisation and cervical screening uptake was below national expected levels. A plan to enable a clear understanding of the practice data and actions to improve the uptake of national programmes; in particular cervical screening had not been established. Following our inspection the practice engaged with local stakeholders to better understand the discrepancies with their data which showed lower rates than the provider expected.

In response to these findings the provider should:

  • Improve the effectiveness of systems and processes to ensure good governance regarding demonstrating how they continuously use data to drive improvement.
  • Continue action to improve the uptake of childhood immunisations and cervical screening.

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

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Hospitals and Interim Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services

13 September 2016

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Priory Gate Practice on 13 September 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

  • Patients’ needs were assessed and care delivered in line with current guidelines. Staff had the appropriate skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
  • Patients said they were treated with dignity, respect and compassion. Patients were involved with decisions about their care and treatment.
  • Urgent same day patient appointments were available when needed. All patients we spoke with and those who completed comment cards before our inspection said they were always able to obtain same day appointments.
  • Patients said GPs gave them enough time and treated them with dignity and respect.
  • Information about how to complain was available and easy to understand. The practice received very few complaints from patients and reviewed complaints to ensure lessons were learned.
  • Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
  • There were clearly defined processes and procedures to ensure patients were safe and an effective system in place for reporting and recording significant events. They were fully reviewed at every staff meeting.

Areas where the provider should make improvement are:

  • Consistently record the outcome of medical safety alerts, whether or not they are relevant to the practice.

  • Encourage patients to engage with national screening programmes for breast and bowel cancer. 

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

26 September 2013

During a routine inspection

On the day of our inspection we spoke with nine patients, one doctor and three members of staff. One of the patients was a member of the patient participation group (PPG)

All patients we spoke with were satisfied with the appointment system and when necessary were given an appointment on the same day. Three patients told us they found it difficult to get through to the surgery by telephone at times. One told us: 'If they are busy first thing, phone later in the morning and you can usually get through. If it's an emergency, they will still see you that day.'

We saw that patients' views and experiences were taken into account in the way the service was provided and that they were treated with dignity and respect. When patients received care or treatment they were asked for their consent and their wishes were listened to.

The practice is located on the first floor. As the building had been recently built, it is fully accessible for people with disabilities and there were disabled parking bays close to the entrance in the car park. One patient said: 'I have limited mobility and the building is excellent. So much better than the one it replaced.'

We found the practice to be clean and well organised. Processes were in place to minimise the risk of infection. There were also processes in place for monitoring the quality of service provision. There was an established system for regularly obtaining opinions from patients about the standard of the service they received.