During an assessment under our new approach
Date of Assessment: 20 November 2025 to 21 January 2026. On 20 January 2026 we carried out remote clinical searches of the patient’s records, and on 21 January 2026, we carried out a visit to the practice. Before these dates we gathered information from the practice remotely.
Holmside Medical Group is a GP practice and delivers service to 10,000 patients under a contract held with NHS England. The practice provides services from 142 Armstrong Road, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE4 8QB. There is a branch surgery at Chapel House, Hillhead Parkway, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE5 1LJ. We visited Chapel House as part of this inspection.
We carried out this assessment due to the time lapsed since our previous inspection in 2016, when the practice was rated Good overall and for all 5 domains.
The National General Practice Profiles states that deprivation within the practice population group is in the 1st decile (1 of 10). The lower the decile, the more deprived the practice population is relative to others. According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the practice area is 81.5% White, 10.59% Asian, 3.56% Black, 2.61% Other and 1.74%, Mixed. The practice told us they have a higher percentage of Eastern European patients registered with the practice who live close to the Armstrong Road surgery.
This assessment considered the demographics of the people using the service, the context the service was working within and how this impacted service delivery. Where relevant, further commentary is provided in the quality statements section of this report.
The service had a strong learning culture and people could raise concerns. Managers investigated incidents thoroughly. People were protected and kept safe. Staff understood and managed risks. The facilities and equipment met the needs of people, were clean and well-maintained and any risks mitigated. There were enough staff with the right skills, qualifications and experience. There was continual training and development of staff which was recognised as integral to achieving high-quality care. Staff managed medicines well and involved people in planning any changes.
There was a truly holistic approach to assessing, planning and delivering care and treatment to people who used services. There was a safe use of innovative and pioneering approaches to care. Care was based on latest evidence and good practice. Staff worked with all agencies involved in people’s care for the best outcomes and smooth transitions when moving services. Staff made sure people understood their care and treatment to enable them to give informed consent. Staff were consistent in supporting people to live healthier lives through a targeted and proactive approach to health promotion and prevention of ill health, and every contact with people was used to do so.
The service treated people as individuals and were highly effective in how they made sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences. People were treated with kindness and compassion, and staff protected their privacy and dignity. The service were exceptional at supporting and enabling staff to deliver person-centred care.
Services were tailored to meet the needs of individual people and were delivered in a way to ensure flexibility, choice and continuity of care. The service provided information people could understand. People knew how to give feedback and were confident the service took it seriously and acted on it. The service was easy to access and worked to eliminate discrimination. People received fair and equal care and treatment. The service worked to reduce health and care inequalities through training and feedback. People were involved in planning their care and understood options around choosing to withdraw or not receive care.
The leadership, governance and culture were used to drive and improve the delivery of high-quality person-centred care. The service had exceptionally inclusive leaders at all levels who understood the context in which they delivered care, treatment and support and embodied the culture and values of their workforce and organisation. There were high levels of staff satisfaction and high levels of constructive staff engagement. The service had clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability and good governance. They used these to drive and improve high-quality, sustainable care, treatment and support. The service had a strong focus on continuous learning, research innovation and improvement. The leadership had an inspiring shared purpose to motivate staff to succeed.