Background to this inspection
Updated
22 June 2021
Tunstall Primary Care delivers services from two locations which we visited during our inspection:
- Tunstall Primary Care, Alexandra Park, Scotia Road, Stoke-on-Trent Staffordshire ST6 6BE.
- Packmoor Medical Centre, Thomas Street, Packmoor, Stoke-on-Trent, ST7 4SS
The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening procedures, maternity and midwifery services and treatment of disease, disorder or injury and surgical procedures. These are delivered from both sites.
The practice offers services from both a main practice and a branch surgery. Patients can access services at either surgery.
Tunstall Primary Care is a member of the Stoke-on-Trent Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and provides services to approximately 12,252 patients under the terms of a General Medical Services (GMS) contract. The practice is a training practice for GP registrars and undergraduate medical students from a nearby university.
The practice is part of a wider network of GP practices entitled Holistic Integrated Person Centred (HIPC) PCN.
Information published by Public Health England report deprivation within the practice population group as 2 on a scale of 1 to 10. Level one represents the highest levels of deprivation and level 10 the lowest. The practice area is one of high deprivation when compared with the national and local CCG area.
Demographically 27.2% of the practice population is under 18 years old which is higher than the CCG average of 21.5% and the national average of 20.7%. The practice have a lower number of patients aged 65 years and over 12.8% are aged over 65 years, which is lower than the CCG average of 17% and the national average of 17.3%.
The average life expectancy of the practice population is lower than the national average, 76.8 years for men and 80.3 years for women compared to the national average of 79.5 years and 83 years respectively.
The practice caters for a high proportion of patients experiencing a long-standing health care condition, 62% compared to the local average of 55% and a national average of 51%. There is a lower percentage of patients in paid work or full-time education, 46% compared to the local average of 58% and national average of 62%.
There is a team of three GP partners and six GPs who provide cover at both practices. The practice team includes two advanced nurse practitioners, a practice pharmacist and junior practice pharmacist, an advanced paramedic, two practice nurses who provide nurse led clinic’s for long-term condition of use of both the main and the branch locations and a healthcare assistant. The GPs are supported at the practice by a team of reception/administration staff and a practice co-ordinator. The practice manager, assistant practice manager and operations manager are based at the main location.
Due to the enhanced infection prevention and control measures put in place since the pandemic and in line with the national guidance, most GP appointments were telephone consultations. If the GP needs to see a patient face-to-face then the patient is offered a choice of either the main GP location or the branch surgery. Extended access is provided locally by North Staffordshire GP Federation, where late evening and weekend appointments are available. Out of hours services are provided by NHS 111.
Updated
22 June 2021
We carried out an announced follow up inspection at Tunstall Primary Care on 19 May 2021. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.
Set out the ratings for each key question
- Safe - Good
- Effective -Good
- Caring – Good
- Responsive – Good
- Well-led – Good
Following our previous inspection on 31 Jul 2019, we rated this practice as requires improvement overall and for key questions, safe and well led. We rated all of the population groups as good except for children families and young people which we rated as requires improvement.
The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Tunstall Primary Care on our website at www.cqc.org.uk
Why we carried out this inspection/review
This inspection was a focused follow-up inspection with a site visit to follow up on:
- Safe, Effective and Well Led key questions
- Followed up on the breaches of regulations and best practice recommendations identified in the previous inspection
- Ratings were carried forward from the previous inspection which included the caring, and responsive domains rated as good.
How we carried out the inspection/review
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
- 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
- A short site visit to the branch and main practice locations.
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 have rated this practice as Good overall and good for all population groups.
We found that:
- The practice had actioned and put measures in place for all the improvements areas identified in the previous inspection, including the breaches in regulations.
- The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
- Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
- The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.
Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:
- Follow up on the fire risk assessments to ensure all actions are concluded and risks mitigated.
- Continue to improve the uptake of childhood immunisations and to improve the uptake of cervical cancer screening.
- Encourage attendance of patients with severe mental health to ensure there is a comprehensive, agreed care plan documented in the record, in the preceding 12 months.
- Consider language support on the practice website.
- Document the practice strategy.
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