Walker Medical Group

Updated 12 December 2018

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered Walker Medical Group to provide primary care services to around 11,000 patients from one location, which we visited as part of this inspection:

• Walker Medical Group, Church Walk, Walker, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE6 3BS.

Walker Medical Group provides care and treatment to patients of all ages, based on a General Medical Services (GMS) contract agreement for general practice. The practice is part of the NHS Newcastle Gateshead clinical commissioning group (CCG).

The practice has six GP partners (two female and four male), one salaried GP (female) and a practice manager. Additionally, the practice employs two advanced nurse practitioners (both female), three nurses (female) and two healthcare assistants (female). There is a team of reception and administration staff and one further member of the management team. The practice is a teaching practice.

The NHS 111 service and Vocare Limited (known locally as Northern Doctors Urgent Care) provide the service for patients requiring urgent medical care out of hours.

Information from Public Health England placed the area in which the practice is located in the most deprived decile. In general, people living in more deprived areas tend to have a greater need for health services. Average male life expectancy at the practice is 74.5 years, compared to the national average of 79.2 years. Average female life expectancy at the practice is 80.1 years, compared to the national average of 83.2 years.

93.2% of the practice population were white, 1.1% were mixed race, 2.8% were Asian, 2.2% were black and 0.7% were other races.

We checked and confirmed the practice had displayed the most recent CQC ratings legibly and conspicuously both on their practice website and in the practice premises.

Updated 12 December 2018

T his practice is rated as Good overall. (Previous rating Feb 2015 – Good)

The key questions at this inspection are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? - Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive at Walker Medical Group on 13 November 2018. This was as part of our ongoing inspection programme.

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.
• The practice routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care they provided. They ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.
• The practice planned for and supported patients receiving end of life care, with well-established and embedded processes.
• Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• Patients found the appointment system easy to use and reported that they were able to access care when they needed it.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.

The area where the provider should make improvements is:

• Review the process for checking staff suitability for their role, by implementing disclosure and barring service (DBS) checks based on the roles and responsibilities of the job and not the individual staff member employed. Where a DBS check is not required, there should be a clear rationale set out in an appropriate risk assessment.

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 12 December 2018

Updated 12 December 2018

Updated 12 December 2018

Updated 12 December 2018

Updated 12 December 2018

Updated 12 December 2018