We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of Midlands Medical Partnership -Birmingham North East (MMP) (also referred to as Erdington Medical Centre in this report) on 8 November 2018 and its 10 branches during the months of November and December 2018 as part of our primary care at scale inspection testing programme.
The practice was previously inspected in October 2016 and was rated Outstanding overall, with Outstanding ratings in Effective and Well-led and Good ratings in Safe, Caring and Responsive.
During our inspection in November and December 2018 we inspected Erdington Medical Centre and the ten associated branches, including any centralised functions.
The branches included in the inspection were:
- All Saints Medical Centre, 2a Vicarage Road, Kings Heath, Birmingham, B14 7RA
- Broadmeadow Health Centre, Keynell Covert, Kings Norton , Birmingham, B30 3QT
- Dudley Park Medical Centre, 28 Dudley Park Road, Acocks Green, Birmingham, B27 6QR
- Eaton Wood Medical Centre, 1128 Tyburn Road, Erdington, Birmingham, B24 0SY
- High Street Surgery, 26 High Street, Erdington, Birmingham, B23 6RN
- Jockey Road Medical Centre, 519 Jockey Rd, Sutton Coldfield B73 5DF
- Kingsmount Medical Centre, 444 Kingstanding Rd, Birmingham B44 9SA
- Mere Green Surgery, 2nd Floor Carlton House, Mere Green Road, Sutton Coldfield, B75 5BS
- Old Priory Medical Centre, The Old Priory Surgery, 319 Vicarage Rd, Birmingham, B14 7NN
- Stratford House Surgery, Stratford House Surgery, 578 Stratford Road, Sparkhill , Birmingham, B11 4AN
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 rated the practice as requires improvement for providing safe services because:
- Not all systems and policies the provider had implemented to keep patients and staff safe and protected from harm were effective or well embedded at all branches.
We rated the practice as good for providing effective, caring, responsive and well-led services because:
- MMP had developed an effective system to monitor performance at Erdington Medical Centre and the ten associated branches.
- We saw evidence of improved outcomes for patients following audits.
- The practice had developed specific resources for carers including a carers pack. The practice had held a carers event and patients and carers had access to dementia drop in sessions run by the Alzheimer’s Society held at one of the branches each month.
- Each branch was aware of its local populations needs and organised and delivered services to meet those needs.
- The provider had implemented extended access on evening and weekends at two hub sites. Initial feedback we viewed from patients and staff was positive about the new service.
- The provider was taking action to improve telephone access and appointment availability.
- The provider was involved in leading on projects to help improve the health of patients accessing services in the Birmingham and Solihull Clinical Commissioning Group (BSOL CCG).
We saw areas of outstanding practice including:
- MMP had developed its own clinical templates. These were based on best practice and ensured all clinical staff were using the latest guidelines and ensured the best outcomes for patients. This included patients with long term conditions.
- The provider had identified their screening rates for bowel screening were low, and worked with Cancer Research UK to combine bowel cancer screening with the flu vaccination program. Data from the provider showed they had increased screening at the time of our inspection.
- The provider used a central target team (CTT) to manage performance and coordinate patient care. The team worked closely with each branch to identify areas they needed to improve on. We saw that this had resulted in additional clinics, mobilisation of staff and walk in appointments for screening accessible to all patients across the organisation. We saw significant improvements in the numbers of patients attending for childhood immunisations and cervical screening and an increased uptake on long term condition reviews.
The areas where the provider should make improvements are:
- The provider should continue to monitor and improve its system for identifying carers, including young carers to further advise and support and to be responsive to individual needs.
- The provider should consider a formal program of clinical supervision for all nursing staff.
- The provider should continue gaining feedback from patients and staff to ensure a consistent experience across all branches and continue to ensure opening and appointment times across all branches including extended access are clear and accessible to patients.
- The provider should continue to review processes for assessing, mitigating and monitoring risk.
Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.
Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGPChief Inspector of General Practice