Brace Street Health Centre

Updated 4 August 2023

Brace Street Health Centre is located in Walsall at:

63 Brace Street

Walsall,

West Midlands

WS1 3PS

The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening procedures, maternity and midwifery services, family planning, treatment of disease, disorder or injury and surgical procedures.

The practice is situated within the Black Country Integrated Care System (ICS) and delivers General Medical Services (GMS) to a patient population of about 2,800. This is part of a contract held with NHS England. The practice is part of a wider network of GP practices within the locality.

Information published by Office for Health Improvement and Disparities shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the second lowest decile (two 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 49.5% White, 40.5% Asian with the remaining patients of Black, Mixed, and other ethnicity. The age distribution of the practice population closely mirrors the local and national averages. There are more male patients registered at the practice compared to females.

There is a team of 4 GPs (2 male, 2 female). The GPs are supported by 1 practice nurse and a primary care network pharmacist who provides medicine management support to the GPs. The practice has a team of reception/administration staff and a practice manager.

The practice is open between 8am to 6.30pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and 8am to 1pm on Wednesday. Wednesday afternoon appointments are provided by a GP service contracted by the provider. The practice offers a range of appointment types including book on the day, telephone consultations and advance appointments.

Extended access is provided locally by primary care network, where late evening and Saturday appointments are available. Out of hours services are provided by NHS111.

Updated 4 August 2023

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Brace Street Health Centre on 20 June 2023. Overall, the practice is rated as good.

Safe - requires improvement

Effective - good

Caring - good

Responsive - good

Well-led - good

Following our previous inspection on 5 May 2022, the practice was rated requires improvement overall and for all key questions except the caring key question which was rated as good.

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Brace Street Health Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection

We carried out this inspection to follow up on the breaches of regulation from a previous inspection.

How we carried out the inspection

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site.

This included:

• Conducting clinical staff interviews using video conferencing.
• Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system (this was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements).
• Reviewing patient records to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider.
• Requesting evidence from the provider.
• A short site visit.
• Face to face interviews with staff.

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 found that:

• The practice had a system in place for the actioning of safety alerts, however this needed strengthening to ensure all alerts were acted on in a timely manner to mitigate risk.
• The management of patients medicines required improvements to ensure the appropriate monitoring was in place.
• The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• Governance processes had been strengthened. Risk management processes were in place and we found assessments of risks had been completed. These included fire safety and health and safety. This ensured that risks had been considered to ensure the safety of staff and patients and to mitigate any future risks
• Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
• Staff were well supported and learning was encouraged.

We found a breach of regulation. The provider must:

• Ensure that care and treatment is provided in a safe way

The provider should:

• Continue to encourage patients to attending screening and immunisation appointments.

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

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Health Care