Norton Medical Centre

Updated 13 January 2023

Norton Medical Centre is located in Norton at:

Billingham Road

Norton

Stockton On Tees

County Durham

TS20 2UZ

The practice is located in Norton Medical Centre, Norton, and provides primary medical care services to patients living in the surrounding areas of Norton. The practice is based on 3 floors, Nursing on the ground floor, GPs on the first level floor, and management and administration on the top floor. It offers on-site parking, disabled parking, a disabled WC, lift facilities, wheelchair and step-free access. The practice provides services to around 17,200 patients of all ages based on a General Medical Services (GMS) contract agreement for general practice.

The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening procedures, surgical procedures, maternity and midwifery services, family planning and treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

The proportion of the practice population in the 65 years and over age group is slightly higher than the Integrated Care Board (ICB) average and higher than the England average. The practice population in the under 18 years age group is the same as the ICB and England average for males. The practice scored four on the deprivation measurement scale; the deprivation scale goes from one to ten, with one being the most deprived. People living in more deprived areas tend to have greater need for health services.

The practice is a training and teaching practice. All management, staff and clinicians work as a multi-disciplinary team. The team consists of The team consists of 8 GP partners 3 of which are male and 5 female. There are 2 nurse practitioners, 1 clinical pharmacist, and a trainee advanced nurse practitioner, all of which are female. There are 4 health care assistants, all of which are female. There is a practice manager, assistant practice manager, an operations manager, a general manager all of which are female. There is a central administration team, medical secretaries and a reception team.

The provider is part of Billingham and Norton Primary Care Network (PCN). PCNs are partnerships of practices working together and with other local health and care providers, where patients can access additional evening and weekend appointments.

The practice is open between 8.00am to 6pm Monday to Friday. Appointments are available from 8.30am to 6pm Monday to Friday with the exception of Thursday which is 8:30am to 12:00pm and 3pm – 6pm. Saturday is by appointment only 8am to 11.30am. The practice is closed every Thursday between 12pm and 3pm for staff training purposes.

Out of hours services are accessed by contacting the NHS 111 service.

Updated 13 January 2023

We carried out an announced inspection at Norton Medical Centre on 15/16 and 30 November 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.

The ratings for each key question are:

Safe - Good

Effective – Good

Caring - Not inspected, rating of good carried forward from previous inspection

Responsive – Requires improvement

Well-led - Good

Following our previous inspection on 23 September 2015, the practice was rated as good overall and in all five key questions was the practice safe, effective, caring and well led. The key questions, was the practice responsive, was rated as requires improvement. This was the practice’s only previous inspection.

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Norton Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Why we carried out this inspection

This inspection was a focused inspection carried out in line with our inspection priorities.

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 using video conferencing
• 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 short site visit
• Staff questionnaires

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 practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• Patients experienced poor access however, the provider was committed to exploring ways at addressing this.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• Staff were appropriately trained to carry out their roles.
• Staff maintained the necessary skills and competence to support the needs of patients.
• Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.

Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:

• Ensure that a risk assessment is carried out for all staff that are not required to complete a DBS check.
• Continue to monitor and reduce summarised patient notes.
• Continue to monitor and seek improvements for appointments and access in line with new and emerging technologies.

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