Heath Street Health Centre

Updated 9 February 2022

In June 2019, the provider Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust took over the responsibility of the practice of Heath Street Health Centre which is located at:

134 Heath Street,
Birmingham,
West Midlands,
B18 7AL

The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening procedures, maternity and midwifery services and treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

The practice is situated within the Black Country and West Birmingham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and delivers an Alternative Provider Medical Services (APMS) to a population of about 6,129 patients. This is part of a contract held with NHS England.

Demographics of patients registered at the practice show that the practice is located within the 10% of most deprived neighbourhoods within the country with 36.9% of children living in poverty in comparison to the England average of 21.8%.

The practice team include a GP clinical director, three salaried GP’s (two male and one female), a clinical pharmacist (female), a practice nurse (female). The practice is supported by a service manager and a team of administrative and reception staff.

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 of either the main GP location or the branch surgery.

Out of hours services are provided by West Midlands Ambulance Service. These are available by contacting NHS 111.

Updated 9 February 2022

We carried out an announced inspection at Heath Street Health Centre on 7 December 2021. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.

Safe - Good

Effective - Good

Caring - Good

Responsive - Good

Well-led – Good

Why we carried out this inspection

This inspection was a comprehensive inspection as part of our inspection programme and included:

• The safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led key questions

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

We found that:

• The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• There were clearly defined and embedded systems, processes and practices in place to keep people safe and safeguarded from abuse.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• Staff had the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care, support and treatment. There was clinical oversight and effective systems for quality improvement.
• 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.
• There were processes in place to manage risk, issues and performance.
• The practice was engaging with the community to improve health inequalities to meet the needs of their diverse population. At the time of our inspection they were engaging in a number of projects and research studies such as outreach in schools, a pilot care home model and the integration of secondary services such as sexual health, pain management and breast clinics to improve outcomes for patients in the practice.
• The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.

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

• Continue to increase the uptake of childhood immunisations.
• Continue to increase the uptake for cervical, breast and bowel cancer screening.
• Continue to improve patient satisfaction in relation to patient survey results.

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