Background to this inspection
Updated
7 August 2019
Ponteland Medical Group is located in the Ponteland area of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and provides care and treatment to 10,070 patients of all ages, based on a General Medical Services (GMS) contract. The practice is part of the NHS Northumberland clinical commissioning group (CCG). We visited the following location as part of the inspection:
- Ponteland Medical Group, Meadowfield Industrial Estate, Ponteland, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE20 9SD.
The practice serves an area where deprivation is lower than the England average. In general, people living in more deprived areas tend to have a greater need for health services. Ponteland Medical Group has fewer patients aged under 18 years of age, and more patients over 65 years, than the England averages. The percentage of people with a long-standing health condition is above the England average, and the percentage of people with caring responsibilities is similar to the England average. Life expectancy for women and men is similar to the England averages. National data showed that 4.4% of the population are Asian and 1.6% are from other non-white ethnic groups.
The main practice is located in a purpose built, two-storey building, which also accommodates another GP practice and other health and social care services. All consultation and treatment rooms are on the ground floor. Disabled access is provided throughout and the car park has dedicated parking bays for patients with disabilities.
There are also two branch sites. Dinnington Surgery is situated in converted premises. The patient areas are all on one level. All reception and consultation rooms are fully accessible to patients with mobility needs. On street parking is available close to the surgery. Darras Clinic is also situated in converted premises. There is a very small step to enter the premises. The patient areas are all on one level. All reception and consultation rooms are fully accessible to patients with mobility needs. Parking is available close to the surgery; this is shared with local shops.
The practice has an executive lead GP (male) and seven salaried GPs (two male and five female), four nurse practitioners (two male and two female), three practice nurses (female), two healthcare assistants (female), a medicines manager, three dispensers, an administrative lead, and a large team of administrative and reception staff.
When the practice is closed patients can access out-of-hours care via Vocare, known locally as Northern Doctors, the NHS 111 service or through a local Hub from 5:30pm to 8pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 4pm on Saturdays.
Updated
7 August 2019
We carried out an announced focused inspection at Ponteland Medical Group on 23 July 2019. This was to check the practice had made the improvements we said they should, when we last inspected the practice in July 2018.
At the last inspection, we rated the practice as requires improvement for providing responsive services. We said the provider should:
- Continue to monitor, review and address patients’ concerns about the difficulties they experience accessing the practice by telephone and obtaining a suitable appointment.
- Continue to involve and consult the practice’s patient participation group about proposed changes and planned improvements.
- Review the content of the practice’s website to make sure it includes relevant and useful information for patients and is kept up-to-date.
At this inspection, we found that the provider had acted to address these areas.
We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service on a combination of:
- what we found when we inspected
- information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services, and
- information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.
We rated this practice as good overall. (Previous rating July 2018 – Good).
We rated the practice as good for providing responsive services because the practice had:
- Carried out audits to look for improvements to the telephone and audit system.
- Altered clinician and reception rotas to better meet patient demand for appointments and to have more staff free to answer telephone calls at busy times.
- Installed a system to be able to review the phone lines in real time so that extra staff could answer calls when needed.
- Standardised patient flows so that follow-up appointments could now be booked by a GP, removing the need for the patient to book another appointment themselves.
- Promoted online access for booking appointments and test results. The number of patients who had signed up for this had increased by 400 patients (from 24% to 28% of the patient list) in the last three months.
- Liaised with the patient participation group to get feedback on the measures taken to improve systems.
- Put information on display in the waiting area and on the website to communicate to patients what changes were being made.
- Carried out surveys which showed that patient satisfaction with access to appointments and via telephone was gradually improving.
We recommend that the practice should:
- Continue in their efforts to improve patient access and to continue gathering patient feedback on the changes made to the telephone and appointment system to ensure these are continuing to lead to improvements for patients.
Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care