Alum Rock Medical Centre

Updated 25 September 2024

We carried out an announced comprehensive assessment of 33 quality statements, under the safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led key questions between 12 November and 5 December 2024. This assessment was carried out to assess the quality of services being delivered following concerns we had received.

Alum Rock Medical Centre is an NHS GP practice located in Birmingham. Information published by Office for Health Improvement and Disparities shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the lowest decile (1 of 10). The lower the decile, the more deprived the practice population is relative to others.

There were approximately 5,800 people registered with the practice at the time of our assessment. According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the practice area is 58% Asian, 22% White, 11% Black, 4% mixed and 6% other.

The practice is part of Washwood Heath Primary Care Network (PCN).

At this assessment, our clinical record reviews indicated that people with long term conditions or those on high risk medicines were followed up in line with guidelines. However, we found that other safety systems the provider had implemented to deliver safe care were not always effective.

People did not always feel like they had been treated with kindness and respect. People could not always access timely care and treatment.

The provider had taken action to improve access. However, further improvements were needed to ensure equity in access for all patients.

We found breaches of the legal regulations in relation to providing safe care and treatment and good governance.

We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found.

Updated 25 September 2024

Patient feedback we reviewed during this assessment showed that patient’s experience of the practice was mixed.

The 2024 National GP patient survey showed that patient satisfaction was generally below local and national averages for most questions. This included patient satisfaction with their overall experience of the practice and how well they could access the practice by phone, the practice’s website or the NHS app.

CQC received 11 complaints and 1 positive feedback from people about the service between November 2023 and October 2024. Complaints included negative comments about staff attitude and that staff were not always helpful.

The practice had received 18 reviews on the Healthwatch website between October 2023 and September 2024, we found that feedback was mixed with some people commenting they had received good care and other people commenting they didn’t feel listened to or supported in the way they needed to be.

The practice collected patient feedback through the NHS Friends and Family Test. Data from July to October 2024 showed the practice had received 155 responses, of which 106 were positive comments about the practice and 41 were negative.

From free text comments we saw that people’s feedback was mixed and some people commented on long waiting times on the day of their appointment.

The practice had carried out their own in-house patient survey in August 2024. 40 people had responded to the survey. We saw that feedback was mostly positive.