Background to this inspection
Updated
13 October 2021
The Laurie Pike Health Centre is situated in a purpose-built health centre in the Aston area of Birmingham. The health centre has a branch practice approximately one mile away, based at Shanklin House Surgery also in the Aston area of Birmingham. During the COVID-19 pandemic the provider had closed the branch practice and at the time of the inspection, the branch practice remained closed.
Public Health England data ranks the levels of deprivation in the area as one out of 10, with 10 being the least and one being the most deprived. Approximately 16,876 patients are registered with the practice.
The service is registered to provide the regulated activities of Diagnostic and screening procedures, Maternity and midwifery services, Family Planning and the Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.
The practice is part of the Modality Partnership, an organisation operating across Sandwell, Birmingham, Walsall, Wokingham, Hull, Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven, Lewisham and East Surrey, providing NHS services to more than 410,000 patients. The partnership holds a corporate based organisational structure consisting of a national board, an executive divisional board, operational and clinical management groups, as well as management leads within these divisions.
The practice is led by a team of seven GP partners (male and female). There are also nine salaried GPs (male and female) at the practice. The clinical team includes two nurse practitioners, one practice nurse, one diabetes specialist nurse, one trainee practice nurse, two locum practice nurses, two healthcare assistants and three trainee healthcare assistants.
In addition, the practice has a trainee pharmacist and access to a pharmacist from other practices within the partnership. The practice is also a training practice providing training and teaching opportunities to trainee GPs.
The practice management is undertaken by a patient services manager who is overseen by an area manager from the Modality Partnership. The clinical team are supported by a team of administration/reception staff.
The practice is open between 8am and 8pm on Tuesday, 8am and 6.30pm on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Earlier appointments from 7am are available on Tuesdays and Fridays, although these appointments are generally reserved for responding to e-consult queries.
Patients can access extended hours appointments which include Saturday and Sunday at Enki Medical Practice through the Modality Partnership’s extended access service. Weekend appointments are available from 9am to 1pm. When the practice is closed patients are diverted to the GP out of hours service provided by Badger. Patients can also access advice through the NHS 111 service.
Updated
13 October 2021
We carried out an announced inspection at The Laurie Pike Health Centre on 7 September 2021. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.
Safe - Good
Effective – Requires improvement
Caring - Good
Responsive - Good
Well-led - Good
Following our previous inspection on 4 March 2020, the practice was rated Requires Improvement overall and for all key questions except for caring, which was rated good.
The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for The Laurie Pike Health Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk
Why we carried out this inspection
This inspection was a comprehensive follow-up inspection and included the key questions: safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led. We also followed up on:
- Any breaches of regulations and ‘shoulds’ identified in the previous inspection
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 / telephone
- Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system and discussing findings with the provider
- Reviewing the quality of patient records
- Requesting evidence from the provider before and after the inspection site vist.
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 rated this practice as Good overall and Good for providing safe, caring, responsive and well-led services. We have rated the practice as Requires improvement for providing effective services and Requires improvement for the Working age people and Families, children and young people population groups.
We found that:
- The practice had acted to improve infection prevention and control systems so that the practice management team were assured that appropriate cleaning standards were being met. We saw the practice was undergoing building renovation work at the time of the inspection. There was a plan in place to complete all outstanding actions that had been identified following infection control audits and other building risk assessments.
- The practice monitored their performance and had plans in place to deal with any backlogs the COVID-19 pandemic had caused.
- Although the lead GP had reviewed systems and processes, the practice could not demonstrate that the uptake of cervical cancer screening and childhood immunisations had improved.
- The practice responded appropriately to complaints and we found that staff had received training to ensure patients were dealt with kindness and respect.
- The practice adjusted how it delivered services to meet the needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found the practice had taken appropriate action to improve access to care and treatment.
- There had been a change in leadership since the last inspection and the way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centred care.
Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:
- Review and improve communication methods between the provider and the practice so that relevant staff are kept informed of any actions and changes to processes or policies..
- Review and improve systems to manage staff recruitment files so that staff information can be monitored more effectively.
- Continue to review and improve infection prevention and control systems.
- Continue to explore alternative methods to engage the community and improve the uptake of cervical cancer screening and childhood immunisations.
- Continue to review and improve systems to identify carers (including young carers), so that carers are being supported appropriately.
Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.
Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care