Fenham Hall Surgery

Updated 18 April 2018

Care Quality Commission registered Fenham Hall Surgery to provide primary care services.

The practice provides services to approximately 8700 patients from one location, which we visited as part of this inspection:

• Fenham Hall Surgery, Fenham Hall Drive Newcastle Upon Tyne Tyne and Wear NE4 9XD.

The practice website is www.fenhamhallmedicalgroup.nhs.uk.

Fenham Hall Surgery is a medium sized practice providing care and treatment to patients of all ages, based on a General Medical Services (GMS) contract agreement for general practice. The practice is part of the NHS Newcastle Gateshead clinical commissioning group (CCG).

The practice has four GP partners (two male two female). They employ a salaried GP, a practice manager, a nurse practitioner, a practice nurse, a health care assistant and staff who undertake reception and administrative duties.

NHS 111 service and Vocare Limited (known locally as Northern Doctors Urgent Care) provide the service for patients requiring urgent medical care out of hours.

Information from Public Health England placed the area in which the practice is located in the third most deprived decile. In general, people living in more deprived areas tend to have a greater need for health services. Average male life expectancy at the practice is 76.6 years, compared to the national average of 79.2 years. Average female life expectancy at the practice is 81.1 years, compared to the national average of 83.2 years.

76.2% of the practice population were white, 1.9% were mixed race, 18.1% were Asian, 2.1% were black and 1.7% were other races.

The practice had displayed their CQC ratings from the December 2014 inspection, in the practice reception area and on their website, in line with legal requirements.

Updated 18 April 2018

This practice is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspection December 2014 – Good)

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? - Good

As part of our inspection process, we also look at the quality of care for specific population groups. The population groups are rated as:

Older People – Good

People with long-term conditions – Good

Families, children and young people – Good

Working age people (including those recently retired and students – Good

People whose circumstances may make them vulnerable – Good

People experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia) - Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Fenham Hall Surgery on 20 February 2018. This was as part of our ongoing inspection programme.

At this inspection we found:

• The practice had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the practice learned from them and improved their processes.
• The practice routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.
• The practice had improved their approach to postnatal reviews and six-week baby checks. They had introduced a planned approach, which allowed them to easily identify and follow up where families did not attend.
• The practice had improved the support provided to patients reaching the end of their life and this had resulted in more patients dying in their preferred location.
• Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• Patients were able to access care and treatment from the practice within an acceptable timescale for their needs.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Review the process for recording and documenting fire evacuation drills.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 5 March 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people with long-term conditions. Patients with long term conditions had a named clinical and administrative lead to co-ordinate their care. The practice were working towards improving their recall arrangements for patients with long term conditions. Longer appointments and home visits were available when needed.

Updated 5 March 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of families, children and young people. There were systems in place to identify and follow up children living in disadvantaged circumstances and who were at risk. There were aspects of the practice which were good and related to all population groups. Appointments were available outside of school hours and the premises were suitable for children and babies. The practice held bi-weekly baby clinics. We saw good examples of joint working with midwives, health visitors and school nurses.

Updated 5 March 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of older people. Nationally reported data showed that outcomes for patients were good for conditions commonly found in older people. The practice offered proactive, personalised care to meet the needs of the older people in its population for example, a named GP for the over 75s and personal care plans. It was responsive to the needs of older people, and offered home visits and rapid access appointments for those with enhanced needs. The practice had good working arrangements with other healthcare professionals, such as district nurses, to share information to improve patient care.

Updated 5 March 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of working-age people (including those recently retired and students). The needs of the working age population, those recently retired and students had been identified and the practice offered extended opening hours. The practice was in the process of developing on-line services to include booking of appointments and ordering of repeat prescriptions.

Updated 5 March 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia). The practice participated in the dementia screening enhanced service; they took bloods and had a screening tool to identify patients with dementia and co-ordinated access to local services for them.

For patients with poor metal health there was access to a counsellor, psychiatrist and drug and alcohol counsellor. The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of people experiencing poor mental health. There were links to a local benefits advice worker and patients had a named lead clinician for their care.

Updated 5 March 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable. The practice held a register for patients with a learning disability. There were high numbers of ethnic minority groups registered with the practice. There was access to telephone and in person translation services and longer appointments were booked where needed. The practice website had the facility to translate its pages into several different languages. One of the GP partners spoke Czech. This attracted high numbers of Eastern European patients to the practice.

The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of vulnerable people. Staff knew how to recognise signs of abuse in vulnerable adults and children and understood their responsibilities in relation to this.