The Care Quality Commission
  • Doctor
  • GP practice

Hockley Medical Practice

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

60 Carver Street, Birmingham, West Midlands, B1 3AL (0121) 554 1757

Provided and run by:
Dr Bathla & Partners

All Inspections

During an assessment under our new approach

Hockley Medical Practice is a NHS GP practice which provides primary care services to patients in Birmingham. We carried out an announced assessment of one quality statement, Equity of Access, under the key question Responsive on the 29 March 2024. Responsive assessments are remote focused reviews to help us understand what practices are doing to try to meet patient demand and the current experience of people who use these services and of providers. The responsive key question is still rated as good. The service remains rated as good overall. We recognise the great and often innovative work that GP practices have been engaged in to continue to provide safe, quality care to the people they serve. We know colleagues are doing this while demand for general practice remains exceptionally high, with more appointments being provided than ever. In this challenging context, access to general practice remains a concern for people. These assessments of the quality statement Equity in Access in the responsive key question includes looking at what practices are doing to improve patient access to primary care and sharing this information to drive improvement. People can access services when they need to, without physical or digital barriers, including out of normal hours and in an emergency. People are given support to overcome barriers to ensure equal access. The practice understood the challenges to patient access and responded to patient needs. We found that the practice had organised services to meet patients’ needs, particularly those who were most likely to have difficulty accessing care. The practice used feedback and other information to monitor and improve access. The practice was taking action to improve access, particularly to how easy it was for patients to contact the practice, but this was not yet reflected consistently in the GP patient survey data.

28 April 2022

During a routine inspection

We carried out an unannounced inspection at Hockley Medical Practice on 21 April 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.

Set out the ratings for each key question

Safe - Good

Effective - Good

Caring - Good

Responsive - Good

Well-led - Good

This was the first inspection since registering the practice under the current provider.

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

Why we carried out this inspection

This inspection was a comprehensive inspection, which included site visit, due to concerns around clinical and non-clinical staffing levels.

How we carried out the inspection/review

Throughout the pandemic CQC has continued to regulate and respond to risk. However, taking into account the circumstances arising as a result of the pandemic, and in order to reduce risk, we have conducted our inspections differently.

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site. This was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements.

This included:

  • Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing
  • Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system and discussing findings with the provider
  • 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

We found that:

  • There were adequate staffing levels within the practice and the staff worked flexibly between the sister practice when there was a shortfall.
  • The management had accommodated additional roles staff, for example Paramedics and Pharmacists, to meet the needs of the practice population.
  • The facilities and premises were appropriate for the services being delivered.
  • The practice adjusted how it delivered services to meet the needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
  • 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.
  • Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
  • Our Searches of the clinical system found the surgery reviewed patients medicine and treatment plans in line with latest guidance.

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

  • Continue to increase the uptake of childhood immunisations.
  • Continue to increase the uptake for cervical, breast and bowel cancer screening.

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