Cromer Group Practice

Updated 6 June 2022

Cromer Group Practice is located in Cromer at:

Mill Road,

Cromer,

Norfolk,

NR27 0BG.

There are approximately 12,318 patients registered at the practice.

The practice is registered to provide the regulated activities of diagnostic and screening procedures, family planning, maternity and midwifery services, surgical procedures and treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

The practice has a General Medical Services (GMS) contract with the local Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). The practice has four GP partners (two male, two female) who hold the registration for the practice, two salaried GP (both female), three clinical pharmacists and a clinical pharmacy technician. There is a practice manager supported by a team of reception and administration staff, an operations manager, an administrative manager and a dispensary manager. The nursing team includes two advanced nurse practitioners, five practice nurses, four health and wellbeing coaches and two phlebotomists. The practice is a dispensing practice for patients that live more than one mile (1.6 kilometres) from their nearest pharmacy.

The practice opening hours are 8.30am to 6pm Monday to Friday and is closed between 1pm to 2pm on a Tuesday. Patients could also access an extended hours hub over the weekend, which is hosted by the Primary Care Network. Out of hours services are accessed via the NHS111 service.

Information published by Public Health England shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the fifth lowest decile (five of 10). The lower the decile, the more deprived the practice population is relative to others. The practice demography differs slightly to the national average, with slightly fewer 0-49 year olds and slightly more 70+ year olds. According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the practice area is 98% White, 1% Asian and 1% Mixed.

Updated 6 June 2022

We carried out an announced desk-based review of Cromer Group Practice on 24 May 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.

Safe - Good

Effective - Not inspected

Caring - Not inspected

Responsive - Not inspected

Well-led - Not inspected

Following our previous inspection in July 2021, the practice was rated Good overall and for all key questions except for providing safe services.

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

Why we carried out this inspection

This desk-based review was conducted without undertaking a site visit to follow up on the breach of regulation and areas where the provider ‘should’ improve which were identified at our 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 review was carried out in a way which did not require a site visit. 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

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.

The practice remains rated as Good overall.

We found that:

• The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• The practice were carrying out structured medication reviews which were completed in a thorough and comprehensive manner.
• Staff communication and engagement had been improved. We received feedback from 16 members of staff and all staff members commented on the multiple positive changes which had taken place in the practice. They felt listened to and involved in the development of the practice’s vision and values.
• The practice had recruited and trained a number of Health and Wellbeing coaches who carried out health checks. A Learning Disability nurse had recently been recruited to the practice whose role will include completing healthchecks for patients with a learning disability, whilst a specialist mental health nurse had been completing health checks for patients with serious mental illness.

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

• Continue to record weight measurements for the monitoring of patients on some medications.
• Continue to regularly review safety alerts.
• Continue to monitor and improve prescribing rates of Pregabalin and Gabapentin.
• Improve uptake for the national cervical screening programme.

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