FirstCare Practice

Updated 17 January 2019

Firstcare Practice is situated in the Balsall heath area of Birmingham, within a purpose-built health centre called Balsall Heath Health Centre. The practice population is approximately 6,000 patients with a higher number of patients under 65 years of age compared to the national average. Approximately 78% of the practice population identify as Black, Minority, Ethnic (BME). The level of deprivation in the area according to the deprivation decile is one out of ten (The Index of Multiple Deprivation 2015 is the official measure of relative deprivation for small areas (or neighbourhoods) in England.

Firstcare Practice is led by a single handed female GP who is supported by five sessional GPs (all male). The practice has a health care assistant (HCA) (female) and has recently employed a practice nurse (female). The reception manager is supported by a team of administration and reception staff. The practice’s opening hours are Monday to Thursday 8am until 6.30pm and 8am until 8pm on Fridays. The practice is also open for on Saturday between 8am and 1pm. Appointments are available throughout the day from 9am until 6.30pm on weekdays, except on Fridays, when appointments are available until 8pm. Appointments are available on Saturdays between 9am and 11.30am. The practice’s out of hours service is provided by BADGER. Telephone lines are automatically diverted to the out of hours service when the practice is closed.

The practice is a member of the My Healthcare federation that offer extended hours at local hub centres, each weekday and at weekends from 8am until 8pm. The practice provides NHS primary health care services for patients registered with the practice and holds an Alternative Provider Medical Service (APMS) contract with the local Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

Firstcare practice is registered with CQC to provide five regulated activities associated with primary medical services, which are: treatment of disease, disorder and injury; family planning; maternity and midwifery; diagnostic and screening procedures and surgical procedures.

Updated 17 January 2019

This practice is rated as Good overall.

The key questions at this inspection are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – RI

Are services well-led? - Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Firstcare Practice on 13 November 2018 as part of our inspection programme due to this practice changing their registration details and thus being treated as newly registered with the CQC.

At this inspection we found:

• The practice had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the practice learned from them and improved their processes.
• Childhood immunisations and cancer screening results were lower than local and national averages, however unverified 2018 data provided by the practice indicated improvements had been made, particularly in childhood immunisations.
• Results from the GP patient survey in questions relating to the caring key question were below local and national averages, particularly regarding patient’s overall experience and being involved in their care and treatment. The practice had conducted their own survey, which showed some improvement since the last time it was conducted, but mirrored the national GP patient survey. The practice continued to take steps to address this.
• The practice’s achievement on the GP patient survey in questions relating to access to care and treatment were below local and national averages, particularly regarding telephone access, making appointments and seeing the GP of choice. The practice had conducted their own survey, which showed some improvement since the last time it was conducted, but mirrored the national GP patient survey. The practice continued to take steps to address this.
• The practice had a strong focus on quality improvement and learning when things went wrong.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Continue with efforts to improvement cancer screening rates.
• Monitor and improve levels of patient satisfaction, in particular, areas in relation to access and involvement in care and treatment.
  

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP
Chief Inspector of General Practice

Please refer to the detailed report and the evidence tables for further information.

Updated 17 January 2019

Updated 17 January 2019

Updated 17 January 2019

Updated 17 January 2019

Updated 17 January 2019

Updated 17 January 2019