Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at the Waterloo Medical Group on 9 February 2016. 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 a highly effective system for reporting and recording significant events. The staff team took the opportunity to learn from all internal and external incidents.

• Risks to patients and staff were assessed and well managed.

• Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance. They had the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.

• Outcomes for patients were consistently good. The Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) data, for 2014/15, showed the practice had performed very well in obtaining 99.9% of the total points available to them for providing recommended care and treatment.

• The practice worked closely with other organisations when planning how services were provided, to ensure patients’ needs were met.

• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and that they were involved in decisions about their treatment.

• The main practice and its branches had good facilities and they were well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.

• Services were tailored to meet the needs of individual patients and were delivered in a way that ensured flexibility, choice and continuity of care. All staff were actively engaged in monitoring and improving quality and patient outcomes.

• The leadership, governance and management of the practice assured the delivery of high-quality person-centred care, supported learning, and promoted an open and fair culture.

  We also saw areas of outstanding practice:

• The practice has demonstrated leadership within the region through their proactive and lead role in developing the Blyth Acute Service (BAS) which provides patients with urgent same-day care. The service commenced in February 2015, and at the time of the inspection, 10,347 patients had used the service at least once. (This also includes patients from the adjacent practice.) A high proportion of these patients have used the service numerous times. Healthwatch Northumberland recently carried out a service of patients about the BAS. Most patients who responded were very positive about the service, and they said they received a better quality of care and treatment than they did before. This is outstanding because staff have worked hard to develop a new way of delivering urgent, same-day care which has improved patient access and outcomes.

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

• Continue to review and improve telephone access to the practice and their appointment system.

• Ensure they have documentary or electronic evidence which confirms that NHS Property Services have completed the health and safety checks they are contracted to carry out.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

People expressed their views and were involved in making decisions about their care and treatment. We saw that staff dealt with enquiries from patients as discretely as possible. One patient told us, “They always try and work around me and my needs.”

Patients we spoke with were complimentary about the care they received. Comments from patients included; “I wouldn’t leave this practice now. I prefer this practice to other ones I have used” and “The practice has done right by me. They have been good to us in the circumstances.”

The practice had in place safeguarding policies for both children and vulnerable adults. There was an identified lead clinician with clear roles and responsibilities to oversee safeguarding within the practice.

The practice was well organised and presented as clean, tidy and generally well maintained. There were effective systems in place to reduce the risk and spread of infection.

The provider had a recruitment policy in place. General practitioners and nurses employed within the practice were checked to ensure they had an up to date registration with the appropriate professional body.

We reviewed the information available to us about Railway Medical Group on 12 June 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.