The Practice Old Hill

Updated 26 October 2022

The Practice Old Hill is located in Cradley Heath at:

Priest House (Ground Floor)

Priest Street

Cradley Heath

West Midlands

B64 6JN

The practice is part of Operose Health, a large healthcare provider. Operose Health provide support to the practice through a range of depatments which include human resources, governance and finance. The practice is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening procedures, maternity and midwifery services, treatment of disease, disorder or injury and surgical procedures. The practice is situated within the Black Country Integrated Care System (ICS) and delivers General Medical Services (GMS) to a patient population of about 2,000. This is part of a contract held with NHS England.

Information published by Public Health England shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the second lowest decile (two 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 86.5% White, 8.2% Asian, 2.9% Black and 2.4% Mixed.

There is a clinical director who has the overall clinical responsibility for a number of practices locally. There is one salaried GP (male) working at the practice. They are supported by a part time practice nurse and health care assistant. A new practice nurse has recently been recruited and is due to start at the practice in October 2022. There is a reception/administration team. The practice manager provides managerial oversight.

Due to the enhanced infection prevention and control measures put in place since the pandemic and in line with the national guidance, most GP appointments were telephone consultations. If the GP needs to see a patient face-to-face then the patient is offered a choice when to visit the practice. The practice is open between 8am and 6.30pm Monday to Friday. The telephone lines are available from 8am to 6.30pm.

The practice has opted out of providing an out-of-hours service. Patients calling the practice when it is closed are directed by NHS 111 to the local out-of-hours service provider.

Updated 26 October 2022

We carried out an announced focused inspection at The Practice Old Hill on 22 September 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.

We rated the key questions inspected as follows:

Safe - good

Effective – good

Well-led – good

Following our previous inspection on 20 December 2016, the practice was rated good overall and for all key questions.

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

Why we carried out this inspection

We carried out this inspection as part of the CQC quality assurance process.

How we carried out the inspection

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site.

This included:

• Conducting clinical interviews using video conferencing.
• Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system (this was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements).
• Reviewing patient records to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider.
• Requesting evidence from the provider.
• A short site visit.

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 found that:

• The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• The culture of the practice and the way it was led and managed drove the delivery and improvement of high-quality, person-centred care.
• Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• There was a strong emphasis on learning and sharing outcomes with the whole team and external organisations to promote best practice.
• All opportunities for learning from internal and external incidents were maximised. All learning was shared with staff regularly.
• Leaders demonstrated they had the capacity and skills to deliver high quality, sustainable care.
• There was effective leadership at all levels which supported innovation, implementation of processes and the continuous monitoring of patient care.
• There was emphasis on staff wellbeing, and this was demonstrated through discussions with staff and evidence of appraisals.
• Risk management processes were in place and we found assessments of risks had been completed. These included fire safety, health and safety, and infection control. This ensured that risks had been considered to ensure the safety of staff and patients and to mitigate any future risks.

The provider should:

• Take action to improve the uptake of immunisations and cervical screening.

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