This practice is rated as Good overall.

The key questions at this inspection are rated as:

Are services safe? – Requires improvement

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? - Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Extra Care Blaydon on 23 October 2018 as part of our current inspection programme.

At this inspection we found:

• The practice had some systems in place to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. However, they did not have a system to ensure that patients referred back to their own GP practice for referrals and tests were being referred or receiving the appropriate tests.
• The practice routinely sought feedback from staff, patients and stakeholders on the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. Feedback was consistently high.
• Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• Patients found the appointment system easy to use and reported that were able to access care quickly when they needed it.
• There was a focus on continuous learning and improvement at provider level.

However, there were areas where the provider should make improvements. The provider should:

• Strengthen the arrangements to alert a patient’s own GP when a patient requires further investigation or referral to another service.
• Embed the information governance requirements for clinical staff into induction and information/guidance packs.
• Continue with plans to develop a more formal and effective channel of communication and engagement with clinical staff which includes dissemination of learning from complaints, significant events and clinical audits as well as implementation of best practice guidance.

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

Please refer to the detailed report and the evidence tables for further information.