Background to this inspection
Updated
24 December 2018
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered Brunton Park Health Centre to provide primary care services to around 5,600 patients from one location:
- Princes Road, Brunton Park, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE3 5NF.
Brunton Park Health Centre provides care and treatment to patients of all ages, based on a General Medical Services (GMS) contract agreement for general practice. The practice is part of the NHS Newcastle Gateshead clinical commissioning group (CCG).
The practice has three GP partners (two female and one male), a salaried GP (male) and a practice manager. Additionally, the practice employs two nurses (female) and a healthcare assistant (female). There was also a team of reception and administration staff. The practice is a teaching practice.
Prior to the inspection we noted the details of partnership registered with CQC were out of date. One partner had retired and two new partners had joined. We told the practice to apply to change their registration to ensure they were appropriately registered with CQC. The practice was in the process of applying to make these changes by the time of the inspection.
NHS 111 service and Vocare Limited (known locally as Northern Doctors Urgent Care) provide the service for patients requiring urgent medical care out of hours.
Information from Public Health England placed the area in which the practice is located in least deprived decile. In general, people living in more deprived areas tend to have a greater need for health services. Average male life expectancy at the practice is 81.3 years, compared to the national average of 79.2 years. Average female life expectancy at the practice is 85.8 years, compared to the national average of 83.2 years.
90.2% of the practice population were white, 1.5% were mixed race, 6.3% were Asian, 0.6% were black and 1.4% were other races.
We checked and confirmed the practice had displayed the most recent CQC ratings legibly and conspicuously both on their practice website and in the practice premises.
Updated
24 December 2018
We carried out an announced comprehensive at Brunton Park Health Centre on 11 December 2018. This was as part of our ongoing inspection programme.
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 all population groups
. (Previous rating Feb 2015 – Good)
At this inspection we found:
- The practice had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the practice learned from them and improved their processes.
- The practice routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care they provided. They ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines. The practice had achieved 100% of the points available within the Quality and Outcomes Framework for providing recommended treatments for the most commonly found clinical conditions. They had high uptake of childhood immunisations and cancer screening initiatives.
- The practice had a strong approach to training and development and actively encouraged staff to take up development opportunities.
- 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 strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.
The areas where the provider should make improvements are:
- Review the processes for identifying which reported incidents and near misses are investigated through the significant events process to identify a wider range of these that the practice could learn from.
- Review the information provided to locums in the resource pack to ensure it is up to date and fit for purpose.
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