We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Newtown Medical Centre on 1 December 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as good.
Safe - good
Effective - good
Caring - good
Responsive - good
Well-led - good
Why we carried out this inspection
This inspection was a comprehensive inspection due to changes to the registration of the provider and includes the safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led key questions.
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 short site visit.
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 have rated this practice as Good overall.
We found that:
- The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
- Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
- Policies and procedures were in place to enable the practice to operate safely and effectively.
- There were effective systems in place to monitor patients prescribed high-risk medicines and monitoring of patients with long-term conditions.
- The practice leaders had management oversight of staff qualifications and training.
- Staff were clear and knowledgeable about their roles and responsibilities.
- Effective governance arrangements had been implemented to mitigate risks and ensure patients were kept safe.
- The practice had recruited further clinicians to offer a more diverse and mixed workforce to meet the needs of its patient population. The practice had purchased IT software to support telephone access for appointments.
- Complaints were handled appropriately including timely acknowledgment, response and appropriate systems for learning from complaints were in place.
- We saw evidence of quality improvement activity aimed at improving local health inequalities.
Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:
- Review the systems for the monitoring of emergency medicines to ensure these are robust.
- Improve the uptake of childhood immunisations and cervical cancer screening.
We found areas of outstanding practice:
- The practice was responsive to the needs of the practice population and had instigated a number of projects in the community, with the involvement of secondary care services and the local authority to promote and encourage engagement with their population. This included work with local schools to address health inequalities and education.
- The practice had provided a food bank for its patients for the past four years. Staff donated food, clothing and money each week to provide additional support to vulnerable patients and families registered at the practice.
- In response to community concerns the practice purchased bleed control kits, which were accessible on site in the event of a gunshot or stabbing injury. This provided practice staff with equipment that, could provide potentially lifesaving treatment until emergency services arrived.
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