The Care Quality Commission
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Archived: Newport Medical Practice

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

1 Newport Road, Balsall Heath, Birmingham, West Midlands, B12 8QE (0121) 449 1327

Provided and run by:
Newport Medical Group

All Inspections

14 April 2016

During an inspection looking at part of the service

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Newport Medical Group on 25 March and 29 April 2015. We found the practice was in breach of legal requirements. The breaches related to Regulation 12 Health & Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010 Safe care and treatment.

Following the inspection the practice wrote to us to say what they would do to meet the legal requirements.

We undertook this focused inspection on 14 April 2016 to check that they had followed their plan and to confirm that they now met the legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to those requirements. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Newport Medical Group on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

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

  • Patient Group Directives for nurses to administer medicines were up to date and relevant.

  • Patients are made aware when appointments are booked with the Advanced Nurse Practitioner (ANP) and not a GP.

  • Chaperone policy was reviewed to ensure consistency.

  • Appropriate cleaning systems were put in place to monitor if cleaning was being done according to standards set by the practice.

    There was an assistant practice manager who had taken over many responsibilities from the practice

  • The practice complaints policy was reviewed and appropriate system were put in place to respond to complaints in a timely manner.

  • The practice had reviewed it whistle blowing policy to ensure it was adequate.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

25 March and 29 April 2015

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We inspected this service on 25 March and 29 April as part of our new comprehensive inspection programme.

The overall rating for this service is good. We found the practice to be rated as good in providing, effective, caring, responsive and well-led services. However, we have found the practice to require improvement in respect of providing safe care. We found the practice provided good care to older people, people with long term conditions, families, children and young people, the working age population and those recently retired, people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable and people experiencing poor mental health.

Our key findings were as follows:

  • Incidents were being reported and learning shared with staff. However, directives for nurses to administer medicines were not current.
  • Patient care was provided by staff who had received appropriate training. The practice worked with other health and care providers to deliver co-ordinated care.
  • Evidence we reviewed demonstrated that patients were satisfied with how they were treated and that this was with compassion, dignity and respect.
  • The practice had appropriate skill mix of staff team with expertise and experience in a range of health conditions.
  • The practice was proactive in helping people with long term conditions to manage their health and had arrangements in place to make sure their health was monitored regularly
  • The practice had an open culture that was effective and encouraged staff to share their views through staff meetings and significant event meetings.

We saw there were areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

Importantly, the provider must:

  • Must ensure medicine directives are current and within guidance.

In addition the provider should:

  • Ensure patients are made aware when appointments are booked with the advanced nurse practitioner and not a GP.
  • Ensure a consistent approach is followed when staff carry out the role of a chaperone.
  • Ensure systems are in place to monitor if cleaning by cleaners is being done according to standards set by the practice.
  • Ensure all audits are dated and action identified and followed up.
  • Ensure staff are enabled to fulfil their roles adequately
  • Review the complaint policy and ensure appropriate mechanisms in place to action complaints when the lead is on leave.
  • Ensure the whistle blowing policy is reviewed to include third party contact details.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

5 August 2014

During a routine inspection

Newport Medical Group has a practice population of approximately 10,500 patients. Newport Medical Centre is one of three locations accessible to all of the patients registered with the group. Each of the three locations are registered separately with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Only Newport Medical Centre was inspected on this occasion.

We inspected the practice at 1 Newport Road, Balsall Health on 5 August 2014 and completed a follow up inspection on the 18 August 2014. During the initial inspection we spoke with two doctors, the practice manager, operations manager, practice pharmacist, two nursing staff, members of the administration team and 13 patients visiting the practice. For two weeks prior to the inspection, patients had completed comment cards giving their views on the service provided at the practice. We also looked at the systems, procedures and policies the practice had in place. The information we gathered supported our judgement on whether the practice was safe, effective, caring, responsive to people’s needs and well-led.

At the follow up inspection on the 18 August we looked at the recruitment records that had not been available during the first inspection.

During the inspection we looked to see how the practice met the needs of six specific population groups. There groups are; older people, people with long term conditions, mother, babies and young people, the working age population and those recently retired, people in vulnerable circumstances who may have poor access to care and people experiencing poor mental health.

We found that Newport Medical Centre had procedures in place for the safeguarding of vulnerable adults and children. Medicines, including emergency medicines and vaccines were handled and stored safely. The procedures at the practice for assessing and monitoring the risks and safety of the service were not sufficient for us to determine that the practice provided a safe service and environment for patients, visitors and staff.

The practice had procedures in place to deliver care and treatment to patients in line with the appropriate standards. Systems to improve the management and access for patients with long term conditions had been implemented.  

We spoke with 13 patients; the majority spoke of a staff group at the practice who were caring. The comment cards we received gave positive feedback regarding dignity, respect and compassion. Our observations on the day of the inspection were that patients visiting and telephoning the practice were greeted appropriately with staff communicating in a variety of languages.

The practice was responsive to patients’ needs. Patients were given the opportunity to give their views; the practice demonstrated how they listened to and responded to their patient group.

The provider was in breach of regulations related to: cleanliness and infection control, safety and suitability of premises, requirements relating to workers and assessing and monitoring the quality of the service.

Please note that when referring to information throughout this report, for example any reference to the Quality and Outcomes Framework data, this relates to the most recent information available to the CQC at that time.