Brook Medical Centre

Updated 8 December 2022

Brook Medical Centre is located on Ecton Brook Road, Northampton, NN3 5EN.

Since our previous inspection, the practice was under new management with the provider company, Brook Medical Partnership Ltd, having been taken over in April 2022.

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, family planning and surgical procedures.

The practice is situated within the Northamptonshire Integrated Care System (ICS) and delivers General Medical Services (GMS) to a patient population of approximately 6,600. This is part of a contract held with NHS England.

The practice is part of a wider network of GP practices known as the Blue Primary Care Network (PCN). This consists of six practices in total working together to provide services to the local population. The practice serves the local community, which has been subject to significant housing development over recent years, resulting in an increase in patient numbers at the practice.

Information published by Public Health England shows that deprivation within the practice population group is 3 out of 10. The lower the decile, the more deprived the practice population is relative to others.

According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the practice area is 82.9% White, 5.5% Asian, 7.6% Black, 3.5% Mixed, and 0.6% Other.

The practice has three GP’s and a regular locum GP. The practice employs one advance nurse practitioner, two practice nurses and two health care assistants as well as a team of administrative and reception staff. The practice manager oversees the running of the practice. In addition, the practice shares staff with its PCN, this includes a social prescriber, a paramedic and a physiotherapist.

The practice is open between 8am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday. In addition, appointments are available between 7.30am and 8am on Wednesdays. The practice offers a range of appointment types including book on the day, telephone consultations and advance appointments. The provider can carry out home visits for patients whose health condition prevents them attending the surgery.

Additional extended access is provided locally on a rota basis with the practice’s PCN to provide access in the evenings and at weekends. Out of hours services are provided by NHS 111 services.

Updated 8 December 2022

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Brook Medical Centre on 15 November 2022, this included remote interviews on the 14 November, and a site visit on 16 November 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.

Safe - Good.

Effective – Good.

Caring – Good.

Responsive – Good.

Well-led – Good.

The practice received an overall rating of requires improvement at our inspection on 10 September 2021. A warning notice was issued to the provider in relation Regulation 17 Good governance. We undertook an interim inspection on 15 March 2022 to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches in regulation set out in warning notice we issued. During this inspection, further breaches of Regulation 17 Good governance were identified and the warning notice was updated and reissued.

This inspection was undertaken to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches in regulation set out in warning notice we issued to the provider in relation to Regulation 17 Good governance.

The full comprehensive report from the September 2021 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Brook Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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.
• 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.

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.

Our key findings were as follows:

We found that:

• Evidence provided demonstrated the new management team had adopted a systematic approach to improvement. Previous concerns had been addressed and there was a comprehensive set of action plans in place to support continued improvements.
• The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• There was evidence to demonstrate newly implemented clinical governance systems were operating effectively to reduce risks to patient safety and those associated with medicines management.
• Policies and procedures had been established to enable the practice to operate safely and effectively. Systems for ensuring management oversight of staff had been improved.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
• 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:

• Continue to encourage and engage patients to attend for cervical screening.
• Continue to encourage parent and guardians to vaccinate their children.
• Continue to monitor action plans formulated to reduce risks to staff and patient safety. Including the recruitment of additional support to facilitate note summarising of new patient records.
• Continue with efforts to formulate an active Patient Participation Group (PPG).

Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our judgements are set out in the evidence tables.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Hospitals and Interim Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services