Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Monkseaton Medical Centre on 10 December 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and an effective system in place for reporting and recording significant events.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance. Staff had the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and that there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same 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 management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the Duty of Candour.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

• Identify and record the immunisation status of staff to protect their welfare and reduce the risk of the spread of contagious diseases and ensure all staff are appropriately immunised in line with their roles and responsibilities.

• Clarify how to use the defibrillator for children and ensure staff are aware of this so they can act in the case of an emergency.

• Consider and mitigate the risk of the refrigerators, used to store vaccinations and other medicines which need a consistent temperature, being turned off inadvertently.

• Continue to further develop the patient participation group to ensure it better reflects the practice population, and includes members who may be vulnerable or at risk of poor access to primary care.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Monkseaton Medical Centre on 15 February 2019 as part of our inspection programme.

At the last inspection in December 2015 we rated the practice as good overall and for delivering safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led services.

We have 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.

• 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 treated patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• The practice organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs. 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.

We saw an area of outstanding practice:

The practice had devised individual mental health information and resource sheets for adults and children and young people. This gave them useful advice on where to find help for issues such as low mood, anxiety, insomnia and other mental health issues. The leaflets included contact information for support organisations and websites and details of useful self-help guides, books and mobile phone apps.

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

• Consider carrying our disclosure and barring service (DBS) checks for non-clinical staff who act as a chaperone.

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

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP
Chief Inspector of General Practice