Benfield Park Medical Group

Updated 24 December 2015

Benfield Medical Group is situated in the Walkergate area of Newcastle. It is a short walk from Walkergate metro station and is situated near Walkergate Park Hospital Practice. The practice provides services to just over 8,400 patients of all ages.

Benfield Park Medical Group consists of a main surgery and branch. The main surgery is Benfield Park Healthcare & Diagnostic Centre, Benfield Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 4QD.

The branch is less than two miles away at Molineux Street NHS Centre, Byker, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 1SG.

We visited both of these locations as part of the inspection. The main surgery was inspected on 15 October and the branch surgery on 23 October 2015. The catchment area for the practice covers Central Newcastle, Sandyford, Shieldfield, Jesmond, parts of South Gosforth, Heaton, High Heaton, Byker, Walker, Walkergate, Walkerville and Wallsend (up to Station Road).

There is a small café shop in the health centre staffed by volunteers.

The practice provides services to patients of all ages based on a General Medical Services (GMS) contract agreement for general practice. Both the practice locations are accessible for people with disabilities.

The practice is a training practice with three GP partners, of which two are male and one female. An additional GP partner works for the practice but has not yet completed the process to register with CQC to join the partnership. There is also one salaried GP (who is male), a nurse practitioner, two practice nurses, three healthcare assistants, of which, two also undertake administration and reception duties and a team of administrative support staff.

The opening times for the practice are as follows:-

Benfield Park Healthcare & Diagnostic Centre

• Monday 8am to 8pm
• Tuesday 8am to 8pm
• Wednesday 8am to 6:15pm
• Thursday 8am to 6:15pm
• Friday 8am to 6:15pm

Appointment times were between 8:30am and 11am each morning and 2:30pm and 5:10pm each afternoon. On Monday and Tuesday the practice appointments were also available between 4:30pm and 5:30pm and 6:15pm to 7:45pm during the extended opening hours.

Molineux Street NHS Centre

• Monday 2pm-6pm
• Tuesday 8am-12noon
• Wednesday 2pm-6pm
• Friday 8am-12noon

They serve an area with higher levels of deprivation affecting children and people aged 65 and over, when compared to the England average. The practice area is within the third most deprived decile in England. There were higher numbers of people in paid work or full time employment at 69.8% (compared to an England average of 60.2%). The unemployment rate in the area is lower than the National average at 3.5% compared to the national average at 6.2%. There were a higher proportion of disability allowance claimants (at 68.9 per 1000 population, compared to an England average of 50.3 per 1000 population).

The majority of patients are within working age, with lower numbers than the National average under the age of 16 or over the age of 65. The average male life expectancy is 78 years, which is one year lower than the England average. The average female life expectancy is 81 years, which is two years lower than the England average at 83.

The percentage of patients reporting with a long-standing health condition is slightly lower than the national average (practice population is 50.9% compared to a national average of 54.0%). The percentage of patients with health-related problems in daily life is higher than the national average (53.6% compared to 48.8% nationally). There are a lower percentage of patients with caring responsibilities at 11.2% compared to 18.2% nationally. There is a high percentage of council and rented accommodation in the area.

The practice websites sets out the estimated ethnicity profile of the practice population as predominately Caucasian, 1.6% Asian, 1.2% Black, 1.7% Chinese and 3.3% other non-white ethnic groups. More recently, the practice has received immigrants and asylum seekers from Sri Lanka, Bosnia, Turkey, Russia and Iran.

The service for patients requiring urgent medical attention out of hours is provided by the 111 service and Northern Doctors Urgent Care Limited.

Updated 24 December 2015

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Benfield Park Medical Group on 15 and 23 October 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and to report incidents and near misses. Information about safety was recorded, monitored, appropriately reviewed and addressed.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed, with the exception of those relating to Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks and infection control.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff had received training appropriate to their roles and any further training needs had been identified and planned.

• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• The practice was developing their website to include easy read information to help patients with learning disabilities to understand their services.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and that there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.

However there were areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

Importantly, the provider should

• Review the policy and procedures relating to the chaperone service, to ensure patients and staff are protected by having appropriately recruited and trained chaperones.

• Continue to monitor and improve their approach to infection control by regularly undertaking an audit of their infection control procedures. Also have spillage kits on site so they can safely clean any spillage of bodily fluids.

• Consider the arrangements for checking the maintenance of the cold chain for vaccines stored at the branch surgery, when no practice nurse is due to be on duty that day.

• Ensure that all staff are offered the opportunity to receive an appraisal on a regular basis.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 24 December 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people with long-term conditions. Nursing staff had lead roles in chronic disease management and patients at risk of hospital admission were identified as a priority. Longer appointments and home visits were available when needed. All these patients had a named GP and a structured annual review to check that their health and medication needs were being met. For those people with the most complex needs, the named GP worked with relevant health and care professionals to deliver a multidisciplinary package of care.

Updated 24 December 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of families, children and young people. There were systems in place to identify and follow up children living in disadvantaged circumstances and who were at risk, for example, children and young people who had a high number of A&E attendances. Immunisation rates were relatively high for all standard childhood immunisations. For example, childhood immunisation rates for the vaccinations given to under two year olds ranged from 97.5% to 100% and five year olds from 94.8% to 100.0%. This was the same as or higher than national averages.

Patients told us that children and young people were treated in an age-appropriate way and were recognised as individuals, and we saw evidence to confirm this. Appointments were available outside of school hours and the premises were suitable for children and babies. The practice provided a drop in service for young people at their branch surgery. We saw good examples of joint working with midwives, health visitors and school nurses.

The practice’s uptake for the cervical screening programme was 80.2%, which was comparable to the national average of 81.9%.

Updated 24 December 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of older people.

Staff offered proactive, personalised care which met the needs of these patients. Patients living in local care homes received routine GP visits. Nationally reported data showed that outcomes for patients were good for conditions commonly found in older people. The practice offered proactive, personalised care to meet the needs of the older people in its population. It was responsive to the needs of older people, and offered home visits, longer appointment times and rapid access appointments for those with enhanced needs.

Updated 24 December 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of working-age people (including those recently retired and students). The needs of the working age population, those recently retired and students had been identified and the practice had adjusted the services it offered to ensure these were accessible, flexible and offered continuity of care. The practice was proactive in offering online services as well as a full range of health promotion and screening that reflects the needs for this age group.

Updated 24 December 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people with poor mental health (including patients with dementia). The practice held a register of patients experiencing poor mental health and there was evidence they carried out annual health checks for these patients. The practice regularly worked with the multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of people experiencing poor mental health, including those with dementia. Performance for mental health related indicators was better than the CCG and national average. The practice performed well on reviewing the needs of patients diagnosed with dementia, with higher than comparator performance.

The practice had told patients experiencing poor mental health about how to access various support groups and voluntary organisations. It had a system in place to follow up patients who had attended accident and emergency (A&E) where they may have been experiencing poor mental health.

Updated 24 December 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable. The practice held a register of patients living in vulnerable circumstances including homeless people, travellers and those with a learning disability. It had carried out annual health checks and offered longer appointments for people with a learning disability.

The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of vulnerable people. It had told vulnerable patients about how to access various support groups and voluntary organisations. Staff knew how to recognise signs of abuse in vulnerable adults and children. Staff were aware of their responsibilities regarding information sharing, documentation of safeguarding concerns and how to contact relevant agencies in normal working hours and out of hours.