Thornaby and Barwick Medical Group

Updated 15 November 2022

Thornaby and Barwick Medical Group is located at:

Thornaby Health Centre

Trenchard Avenue, Thornaby

Stockton On Tees

TS17 0EE

There is also a branch surgery, located at:

Barwick Medical Centre

Lowfields Avenue

Ingleby Barwick

TS17 0RJ

We visited both sites as part of our inspection activity. The practice is in a modern purpose-built health centre. Parking is available nearby, and the practice is close to public transport. The Barwick Medical Centre is a purpose-built single storey building with its own car park.

Formerly situated within the Tees Valley Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), the practice is now situated within the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System (ICS). This is a partnership of organisations including local councils, voluntary and community services that provide health and care across the region.

The practice delivers General Medical Services (GMS) to a patient population of about 21,749. This is part of a contract held with NHS England. The practice is located in an area which scores 6 out of 10 on the deprivation scale, 1 being the most deprived, 10 being the least. The practice has a slightly higher proportion of young people, and lower proportion of older people, when compared to local and national averages. The working age population is broadly similar to the average.

The practice has a mix of male and female staff. There are 8 GP Partners and 5 salaried GP’s. The practice is a training practice and there are currently 6 GP registrars and 1 foundation year 2 (FY2) doctor. A GP registrar is a qualified doctor who is training to become a GP. Foundation doctors are medical practitioners undertaking a 2-year general postgraduate medical training which forms a bridge between medical school and specialist / general practice training.

There are 4 practice Nurses and 1 health care assistant (HCA), all supported by an administration team and a practice and assistant practice manager.

The practice is open from 8am until 6pm, Monday to Friday at both surgeries. Out of Hours services are provided through the 111 service.

The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening procedures, family planning, maternity and midwifery services, treatment of disease, disorder or injury and surgical procedures.

The practice is part of a wider network of GP practices, the BYTES (amalgamation of practice names) primary care network (PCN). PCNs are partnerships of practices working together and with other local health and care providers, where patients can access additional evening and weekend appointments.

Updated 15 November 2022

We carried out an announced focussed inspection at Thornaby and Barwick Medical Group on 20 October 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as good.

Safe - good

Effective - good

Caring - not inspected, rating of good carried forward from previous inspection

Responsive - not inspected, rating of good carried forward from previous inspection

Well-led - good

Following our previous inspection on 28 May 2015, the practice was rated as good overall and in all five key questions. This was the practice’s only previous inspection.

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Thornaby and Barwick Medical Group on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection

We carried out this inspection as part of our programme of inspecting services rated Good or Outstanding that have not been inspected for over 5 years. We need assurance that Good or Outstanding rated locations are still good or outstanding.

This was a focused inspection which included the key questions of safe, effective and well-led, as well as some additional questions around access.

How we carried out the inspection

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site.

This included :

• Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing.
• Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system (this was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements).
• Reviewing patient records to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider.
• Requesting evidence from the provider.
• A site visit.
• Staff questionnaires

Our findings

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 found that:

• The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and an effective system in place for reporting and learning from incidents.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• Patients had access to a network of specialist services through a social prescribing link team.
• Staff were appropriately trained to carry out their roles.
• Staff maintained the necessary skills and competence to support the needs of patients.
• Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
• The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.
• Staff were able to access advice and mental health services through an employee assistance programme. There was a mindfulness area within the practice for staff to spend quiet time in, and access to stress awareness training.

Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:

• Continue to explore options to increase call answering capacity at peak times.

Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Hospitals and Interim Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services