The Care Quality Commission
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  • GP practice

Archived: Portugal Place Health Centre

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Portugal Place, Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, NE28 6RZ (0191) 262 5252

Provided and run by:
Portugal Place Health Centre

All Inspections

23 July 2019

During an annual regulatory review

We reviewed the information available to us about Portugal Place Health Centre on 23 July 2019. We did not find evidence of significant changes to the quality of service being provided since the last inspection. As a result, we decided not to inspect the surgery at this time. We will continue to monitor this information about this service throughout the year and may inspect the surgery when we see evidence of potential changes.

7 September 2016

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Portugal Place Health Centre on 7 September 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Our key findings were as follows:

  • Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance.
  • Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and to report incidents and near misses. Although it was not always clear what action had been taken to improve safety in the practice, and prevent a reoccurrence of incidents and significant events.
  • Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
  • Many patients were unhappy with the appointments system; managers were aware of this and were taking action to improve access.
  • The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
  • There was a clear leadership structure in place and staff felt supported by management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which they acted on.
  • There were effective arrangements in place to ensure all staff received training appropriate to their role.
  • Staff throughout the practice; and the other external agencies based in the same building, worked well together as a team.

The area where the provider should make improvements is:

  • Take steps to ensure that learning from significant events is identified and appropriate action taken to reduce the risk of similar incidents occurring in the future.
  • Take action to ensure that the refrigerators used to store vaccines are serviced in line with manufacturer’s guidelines.
  • Develop arrangements for identifying patients who are carers so they can be offered appropriate care and support.
  • Take steps to improve the system for investigating and responding to complaints, including providing advice on what to do if the complainant was unhappy with the response to their complaint.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice