Archived: Falcon Medical Group

Updated 26 November 2015

The practice is located in Molinuex Street NHS Centre, Newcastle and provides primary medical services to patients living in the Battlefield, Benton, Byker, Heaton, Gosforth, Jesmond, Longbenton, Sandyford, Shieldfield, Wallsend and Walker areas of the City of Newcastle. The practice provides services from one location.

The practice shares premises with another GP practice and external services and is based on the ground floor of a purpose built building. There is on-site parking, disabled parking, a disabled WC and access is step-free. There is sufficient room for wheelchairs to move around the surgery.

The practice has five GP partners (two male, three female). The practice employs a practice manager, two practice nurses, a health care assistant and ten staff who carry out administrative or reception duties. The practice provides services for around 6,500 patients based on a General Medical Services (GMS) contact.

The practice is open from 8:15am to 6:30pm Monday to Thursday. On Friday the practice is open from 8:15am to 1pm and 2pm to 6:30pm.

The practice has an open clinic from 10am to 10:45am Monday to Friday, with doctors or a nurse practitioner available.

The practice opens from 9am to 12pm on the first Saturday of every month and then from 9am to 11:30am every other Saturday.

Information from Public Health England placed the area in which the practice was located in the most deprived decile. In general, people living in more deprived areas tend to have greater need for health services. The practice’s age population is slightly weighted towards people of working age.

The service for patients requiring urgent medical care out of hours is provided by the 111 services and Northern Doctors Urgent Care (NDUC).

Updated 26 November 2015

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Falcon Medical Group on 06 October 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and to report incidents and near misses. Information about safety was recorded, monitored, appropriately reviewed and addressed.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance.
• Most staff had received training appropriate to their roles; however, some gaps in training were identified as part of the inspection.
• The practice was engaged with the local clinical commissioning group (CCG) and NHS England.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment. The practice worked well with the patient participation group.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• There was a daily urgent access clinic at the practice and lunchtime appointments were available each day.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by the management team. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.

We saw one area of outstanding practice:

• The practice held a clinical team meeting each day. This meeting provided a forum for a wide range of issues, for example, acute care, complaints and practice development. The meeting supported communication and team working at the practice and facilitated effective clinical care and also ensured clinicians were not working in isolation.

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

The provider should:

• Continue with the process of registration for a new registered manager at the practice.
• Review arrangement for the storage and distribution of blank computer prescription forms to take into account national guidance.
• Review their arrangements for clinical audit at the practice. Clinical audit should be clearly linked to patient outcomes and monitored for effectiveness and comprise of two cycles to monitor improvements to patient outcomes.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 26 November 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people with long-term conditions. Nursing staff had lead roles in chronic disease management and patients at risk of hospital admission were identified as a priority. Longer appointments and home visits were available when needed. All these patients had a named GP and were offered a structured annual review to check that their health and medication needs were being met. Housebound patients were also supported by the district nursing team. For those people with the most complex needs, the named GP worked with relevant health and care professionals to deliver a multidisciplinary package of care. The practice discussed patients on the palliative care register at their daily clinical meeting to ensure effective support. Nationally reported data showed that outcomes for patients were good for patients with long term conditions. For example, the practice had achieved 100% of the total points available to them for providing recommended care and treatment to patients with asthma. This was 3.4% above the local CCG average and 2.6% above the England average.

Updated 26 November 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of families, children and young people. There were systems in place to identify and follow up children living in disadvantaged circumstances and who were at risk, for example, children and young people who had a high number of A&E attendances. Immunisation rates were high for all standard childhood immunisations. Patients told us that children and young people were treated in an age-appropriate way and were recognised as individuals, and we saw evidence to confirm this. Appointments were available outside of school hours and the premises were suitable for children and babies. We saw good examples of joint working with midwives, health visitors and school nurses. The practice was open regularly on Saturdays to support access and it provided same day appointments by the provision of a duty doctor and nurse practitioner. The practice completed the ‘You’re Welcome’ initiative to promote services for young people. The practice website links to a shared website specifically for young people. The waiting room included an area for young people with focused information and easy access to chlamydia testing kits.

Updated 26 November 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of older people. Nationally reported data showed that outcomes for patients were good for conditions commonly found in older people. For example, the practice had achieved 100% of the total points available to them for providing recommended care and treatment to patients with heart failure. This was 2.1% above the local CCG and national averages. The practice offered proactive, personalised care to meet the needs of the older people in its population and had a range of enhanced services, for example, in dementia and end of life care. They were responsive to the needs of older people, and offered home visits and rapid access appointments for those with enhanced needs. The practice was linked to a local Nursing home and attended this home regularly. Disabled access to the practice was good and a hearing loop was available.

Updated 26 November 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of working-age people (including those recently retired and students). The needs of the working age population, those recently retired and students had been identified and the practice had adjusted the services. They offered to ensure these were accessible, flexible and offered continuity of care. The practice was proactive in offering online services as well as a full range of health promotion and screening that reflected the needs for this age group. Appointments were available during lunchtimes and on some Saturdays. Telephone advice was available from GP’s supporting patients who were not able to attend the practice during working hours. The practice provided a travel clinic and had attended the fresher’s fair of one of the local universities resulting in over 200 new registrations.

Updated 26 November 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia). Nationally reported data showed the practice had achieved 100% of the total points available to them for providing recommended care and treatment to patients with dementia. This was 4.7% above the local CCG average and 5.5% above the England average. The practice offered annual reviews for patients on the mental health register and 92% of those eligible had attended. For those patients who were on the dementia register 86% had attended for a physical health check in the last year. The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of people experiencing poor mental health, including those with dementia. They carried out advance care planning for patients with dementia.

The practice had told patients experiencing poor mental health about how to access various support groups and voluntary organisations. They had a system in place to follow up patients who had attended accident and emergency (A&E) where they may have been experiencing poor mental health. Staff had received training on how to care for people with mental health needs and dementia.

Updated 26 November 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable. The practice held a register of patients living in vulnerable circumstances including homeless people, travellers and those with a learning disability. They had carried out annual health checks for people with a learning disability and 89% of these patients had received this check. They offered longer appointments for people with a learning disability. The practice used easy read leaflets to help ensure patients have the information they need in a format they can understand.

The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of vulnerable people. They had told vulnerable patients about how to access various support groups and voluntary organisations. Staff knew how to recognise signs of abuse in vulnerable adults and children. Staff were aware of their responsibilities regarding information sharing, documentation of safeguarding concerns and how to contact relevant agencies in normal working hours and out of hours. Patients are able to register at the practice even if they cannot provide proof of identity or address.