The Care Quality Commission
  • Doctor
  • GP practice

Oldwell Surgery

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

10 Front Street, Blaydon-on-tyne, NE21 4RD (0191) 500 2023

Provided and run by:
Oldwell Surgery

Important: The provider of this service changed. See old profile

All Inspections

6 July 2023

During a monthly review of our data

We carried out a review of the data available to us about Oldwell Surgery on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.

This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.

If you have concerns about Oldwell Surgery, you can give feedback on this service.

12 December 2023

During an inspection looking at part of the service

We carried out a targeted assessment of Oldwell Surgery in relation to the responsive key question. This assessment was carried out on 12 December 2023 without a site visit. Overall, the practice is rated as Good. We rated the key question of responsive as Good.

Safe - Good

Effective – Good

Caring - Good

Responsive – Good

Well-led – Good

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for the

Oldwell Surgery on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this review

We carried out this assessment as part of our work to understand how practices are working to try to meet demand for access and to better understand the experiences of people who use services and providers.

We recognise the work that GP practices have been engaged in to continue to provide safe, quality care to the people they serve. We know colleagues are doing this while demand for general practice remains exceptionally high, with more appointments being provided than ever. In this challenging context, access to general practice remains a concern for people. Our strategy makes a commitment to deliver regulation driven by people’s needs and experiences of care. These assessments of the responsive key question include looking at what practices are doing innovatively to improve patient access to primary care and sharing this information to drive improvement.

How we carried out the assessment

This assessment was carried out remotely.

This included:

  • Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing.
  • Requesting evidence from the provider.

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:

  • We found that services are tailored to meet the needs of individual people and were delivered in a way to ensure flexibility, choice and continuity of care. The feedback from the GP National Survey reflected this.
  • All feedback we received from patients regarding appointments and access was positive.
  • The practice understood the needs of its local population.
  • The practice dealt with complaints in a timely manner and learned from them.

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

  • Continue with their plans to recruit members to their patient participation group.

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 Health Care

18 and 25 March 2022

During a routine inspection

We carried out an announced inspection at Oldwell Surgery on 18 and 25 March 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.

The ratings for the key questions are:

Safe - Good

Effective - Good

Caring - Good

Responsive - Good

Well-led - Good

This is the first time we have inspected this practice under the current registered provider.

It was inspected under a different registered provider in January and September 2015 and was rated as good overall.

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

Why we carried out this inspection

This inspection was a comprehensive inspection to check how the practice was meeting essential standards and to inspect and rate it following the new registration with the Care Quality Commission.

  • As this was an inspection of a new registraion we inspected all five key questions. These are; is the practice safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led?

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 phone calls and 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

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 good overall.

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.
  • Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
  • The practice adjusted how it delivered services to meet the needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way. Although the practice recognised the challenge for patients in getting through by phone, they continued to seek ways to improve and support good access for patients.
  • The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care. Although the practice had found the pandemic challenging, they had demonstrated resilience and continuity of providing good quality of care for patients during this time.

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

  • Review and improve the support given to staff to help them identify and take action when they encounter a deteriorating or acutely unwell patient.
  • Continue to develop and sustain an approach to monitoring the application of infection prevention and control procedures and policies within the practice.
  • Continue to develop and embed the governance of training and development to ensure staff are supported to maintain and develop the knowledge, skills and experience required to do their job.
  • Put in place formal risk management arrangements.
  • Put in place arrangements as planned to formally seek and act upon the views of patients and their carers/representatives to support the continuous improvement of the service.

Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care