Ambar Medical Centre

Updated 20 October 2022

Ambar Medical Centre is located in Walsall at:

Milton House

151 Wednesbury Road

Walsall

West Midlands

WS1 4JQ

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.

The practice is situated within the NHS Black Country Integrated Care Systems (ICS) and delivers General Medical Services (GMS) to a patient population of about 2,500. This is part of a contract held with NHS England. The practice list size has remained stable over the past five years.

The practice is part of the Walsall South One Primary Care Network (PCN). A PCN is a wider network of GP practices that work together to address local priorities in patient care.

Information published by Public Health England shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the second lowest decile (two of 10). The lower the decile, the more deprived the practice population is relative to others.

According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the practice area is 34.6% White, 55.4% Asian, 4.3% Black, 1.84% Mixed and Other minority ethnic.

The age distribution of the practice population shows a higher younger practice population and lower older practice population compared with local and national averages, with broadly similar numbers of male and female patients across the age groups.

The practice team consists of a principal GP and a part time locum GP. Other clinical staff include an Advanced Nurse Practitioner (ANP) and practice nurse and two pharmacists (from the PCN and ICS). Non-clinical staff include a practice manager and a team of four administrative / reception staff.

The practice is open Monday to Thursday between 8am to 6.30 pm and on a Friday between 8am and 1pm. On a Friday afternoon calls are handled by another service (Our Net).

Extended access appointments are available on a Saturday and in the evenings at another local practice by appointments. When the practice is closed, patients can access the out of hours services through the NHS 111 telephone line.

Updated 20 October 2022

We carried out an announced focussed inspection at Ambar Medical Centre between the 14 and 29 September 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.

The ratings for each key question are as follows

Safe - Good

Effective - Good

Caring – Good (carried over from previous inspection)

Responsive – Good (carried over from previous inspection)

Well-led - Good

Following our previous inspection on 15 February 2018 the practice was rated Good overall and for all key questions.

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

Why we carried out this inspection

This inspection was a focussed inspection as part of our band one pilot inspections of practices previously rated good or outstanding. This was to pilot the changes to how CQC are monitoring services in response to the pandemic.

The focus of the inspection included:

• Safe, Effective and Well-Led key questions
• Any ‘shoulds’ identified in the previous

How we carried out the inspection

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 overall

We found that:

• The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• Safeguarding arrangements had been developed to help support and protect the practice’s most vulnerable patients.
• Infection prevention and control measures were in place to minimise the risks to patients.
• Our clinical searches found medicines were well managed.
• The practice learned from incidents and had implemented systems for sharing learning with staff and minimising the risk of reoccurrence.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• Our review of clinical records found patients with long-term conditions received appropriate management and follow-up.
• The practice had achieved high uptake rates for most of the childhood immunisation indicators. However, uptake of cancer screening programmes were an area for improvement.
• The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.

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

• Address any issues identified during our clinical searches including the issuing of steroid cards to patients, as relevant, in line with guidance and follow up of patients with long term conditions.
• Improve uptake of cancer screening programmes.
• Improve oversight of staff training.

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