Birchington Medical Centre

We carried out an announced inspection at Birchington Medical Centre on 6 August 2021.

Prior to this, the service was inspected on 30 April 2019. The practice was rated Requires Improvement overall and for the key questions of effective and well led. The practice was rated as good for the remaining three domains safe, responsive and caring.

We previously found;

• The overall governance arrangements were not consistently effective for the training, development and appraisal of staff.
• The practice was required to establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.

We previously advised the provider they should;

• Continue to strengthen monitoring systems to ensure the practice can demonstrate that members of the nursing team are appropriately registered.
• Continue to monitor their responsiveness to patient enquiries, to improve patient confidence in contacting the practice by telephone.

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

The provider for this service has since changed. The service is now being managed by Invicta Health Community Interest Company.

Our inspection of the service conducted in August 2021 found significant improvements. We have rated the practice good overall and in each of the five domains, safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led.

Why we carried out this inspection

We conducted a comprehensive inspection as the provider had recently registered the service. Where previous concerns had been highlighted with the previous provider these were revisited to assess compliance.

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

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 and good for all population groups.

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.
• The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.
• The staff told us of a positive work culture and environment where they were trusted and supported to work autonomously.

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

• Ensure they document responses to risks identified.
• Provide a comprehensive narrative of discussions to illustrate actions taken.

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