Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Northgate Medical Centre on 7th January 2016.

Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns and report incidents and near misses. Staff were aware of procedures for safeguarding patients from the risk of abuse.
• There were systems in place to reduce risks to patient safety, for example, infection control procedures and the management of staffing levels. However, improvements were needed to the record keeping relating to significant events and staff recruitment.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance.

• Staff told us they had received training appropriate to their roles. Records of all staff training needed to be improved to assist in monitoring and planning for the training needs of staff.

• Patients were very positive about the care they received from the practice. They commented that they were treated with respect and dignity and that staff were caring, supportive and helpful.

• Services were planned and delivered to take into account the needs of different patient groups.

• Access to the service was monitored to ensure it met the needs of patients. Patients reported satisfaction with opening hours and said they were able to get an appointment when one was needed.

• Information about how to complain was available. There was a system in place to manage complaints.

• There were systems in place to monitor and improve quality and identify risk.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Maintain a log of significant events to assist in identifying patterns and trends. Document reviews of significant events to demonstrate that actions identified have been implemented.

• Establish a system to ensure complete documentation is held on staff recruitment files.

• Review the system of identifying staff training needed and undertaken to assist in monitoring and planning for the training needs of staff.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

We reviewed the information available to us about Northgate Medical Centre on 12 April 2019. We did not find evidence of significant changes to the quality of service being provided since the last inspection. As a result, we decided not to inspect the surgery at this time. We will continue to monitor this information about this service throughout the year and may inspect the surgery when we see evidence of potential changes.