Burnham & Berrow Medical Centre

Updated 22 November 2023

Burnham Medical Centre is located in Burnham-on-Sea at:

Love Lane

Burnham-on-Sea

Somerset

TA8 1EU

The practice has a branch surgery Berrow Medical Centre at:

Berrow Health Campus

Brent Road

Burnham-on-Sea

Somerset

TA8 2JU

Both practice locations were visited as part of this inspection.

The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening procedures, maternity and midwifery services and treatment of disease, disorder or injury and surgical procedures. These are delivered from both sites.

The practice offers services from both a main practice and a branch surgery. Patients can access services at either surgery.

The practice is situated in the Somerset Integrated Care Board (ICB) and delivers services to a patient population of approximately 14,500. The practice has patients registered who reside at a number of local nursing and care homes and sheltered accommodations. Burnham-on-Sea and the surrounding area accommodates large tourist numbers with many camping and caravanning sites in the area.

The practice is part of a wider network of GP 5 practices forming the North Sedgemoor Primary Care Network. Information published by Public Health England shows that deprivation within the practice population group is 6 on a scale of 1 to 10. The lower the decile, the more deprived the practice population is relative to others.

At the time of inspection, the clinical team comprised of 4 salaried GPs, 4 emergency care practitioners/ nurse prescribers, 7 practice nurses, healthcare assistants, and phlebotomists. Not all clinical staff worked full time hours. The clinical team was supported by reception and administration teams and a management structure that included a practice manager and an assistant practice manager.

Out of hours services are provided by NHS 111.

Updated 22 November 2023

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Burnham & Berrow Medical Centre on 13 September 2023. Overall, the practice is rated as good.

Safe - good

Effective - good

Caring - good

Responsive - good

Well-led - good

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

Why we carried out this inspection

We carried out this inspection in line with our inspection priorities.

How we carried out the inspection/review

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 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.
• 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.

While we found no breaches of regulation, the areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Continue to embed medicines management improvements to improve patient outcomes.
• Continue to embed reporting processes for significant events.
• Continue to review and update practice policies to reflect current roles and responsibilities.
• Take steps to formally assess health and safety at both practice locations.
• Take steps to include appropriate oversight of clinical complaints and identify improvements.
• Continue to monitor and improve patient access.

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 Health Care