Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of the practice on 14 April 2015, when we found breaches of legal requirements.

After the comprehensive inspection, the practice wrote to us to say what they would do to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches of regulations 12 (2) (g) and 12 (2) (h) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

We undertook this focussed inspection on 26 November 2015 to check that they had followed their plan and to confirm that they now met the legal requirements. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements.

We found that the practice had taken appropriate action to meet the requirements of the regulations.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for the Northern Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The Northern Medical Centre on 14 April 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing well-led, effective, caring and responsive services. It was also good for providing services for older people, families, children and young people, working age people (including those recently retired and students), people living in vulnerable circumstances, people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia) and for people with long term conditions. It was rated as requires improvement for providing safe services.

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

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and to report incidents and near misses. Information about safety was recorded, monitored, appropriately reviewed and addressed.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff had received training appropriate to their roles and any further training needs had been identified and planned. For example, although non clinical staff had not received children and vulnerable adults safeguarding training, we noted that this was scheduled to take place by August 2015.
• 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.

However there were areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

Importantly the provider must:

• Introduce a documented system for checking expiry dates of emergency medicines.

• Ensure that clinical waste awaiting collection is stored away from patient areas and introduce a clinical waste storage policy.

• Ensure that cleaning schedules are introduced for ear syringe, nebuliser and spirometer equipment.

In addition the provider should

• Ensure that non clinical staff undertake children and vulnerable adults safeguarding training

• Review its significant events procedures to ensure learning is shared with non clinical staff.
• Ensure routine minuting of weekly partner and clinical meetings; to enable reflection on outcomes being achieved and to identity improvement areas.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice