Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Northgate practice on 25 October 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.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance and staff had been trained to provide them with the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
• The practice had clearly defined and embedded systems, processes and practices in place to keep people safe and safeguarded from abuse.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• The practice worked closely with other organisations in planning how services were provided to ensure that they met patients’ 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 practice acted on suggestions received from patients, for example, specific health events and educational evenings and had active support from the Patient Participation Group.
• Patients could access appointments and services in a way and at a time that suited them and patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day and an e-consultation service.
• Notices in the patient waiting room told patients how to access a number of support groups and organisations including the introduction of information leaflets on coloured paper and in large print to assist patients with sight difficulties and dyslexia.
• The practice actively reviewed complaints and how they are managed and responded to and made improvements as a result. The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.
• The practice had purchased computer tablets for all the GP partners to support them on home visits and when doing medication reviews and consultations at the local nursing home.
• The practice shared bank holiday opening hours with other practices, so patients could access medical care during this time.

We saw areas of outstanding practice:

The practice held a variety of educational events with the adjoining practice in the health centre for their patients and the local community. For example:

• A bowel screening awareness event in July 2016 was held, supported by specialist screening practitioners from Royal Wolverhampton Hospital. A total of 32 patients attended.
• A ‘diet and diabetes’ event was organised in September 2016. A guest speak from the community diabetes team ran the event with the support of the GPs and staff and 40 patients attended.

We found areas where the provider should make improvements:

• Continue with establishing an effective process to increase the identification and support of carers.
• Following clinical audits undertaken, ensure appropriate monitoring and follow up of patients is acted on.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

We reviewed the information available to us about Northgate Medical Centre on 9 May 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.