The Grove Medical Group

Updated 14 May 2015

The Grove Medical Group practice is located just off Gosforth High Street, in the Gosforth area of Newcastle Upon Tyne. The practice provides services to around 12,700 patients. The practice delivers services from The Grove Medical Group, 1 The Grove, Gosforth, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE3 1NU.

The practice is situated in a building which has been converted for use as a GP practice. Patient facilities are on the ground and first floors. Some of the consultation rooms within the practice are reached by using steps. This makes them inaccessible to patients who have poor mobility or those who use mobility aids, such as wheelchairs. The practice can arrange for patients to be seen in a ground floor room with no step access for those who require it. There is a disabled WC. There is a small car park in the grounds of the practice and nearby parking on the street.

The practice has eight GP partners, one salaried GP, three GP Registrars, four practice nurses, a healthcare assistant, a practice manager and staff who carry out reception and administrative duties. There are both male and female clinicians at the practice.

Surgery opening times are Monday and Tuesday 8:00am to 8:00pm, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 8:00am to 6:30pm.

The practice provides services to patients of all ages based on a General Medical Services (GMS) contract agreement for general practice.

The service for patients requiring urgent medical attention out of hours is provided by the 111 service and Northern Doctors Medical Services Limited.

The practice population age distribution follows a similar pattern to the national average, with the majority of patients within the 25 to 70 age range. The average male life expectancy is 77.8 years and the average female life expectancy is 81.4. The number of patients reporting with a long-standing health condition is similar to the national average (practice population 54.7% compared to a national average of 54%). The number of patients with health-related problems in daily life is also similar to the national average (49.9% compared to 48.9% nationally). There are a higher number of patients with caring responsibilities at 21.5% compared to 18.5% nationally.

Updated 14 May 2015

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The Grove Medical Group on 3 March 2015. Overall, the practice is rated as Good. Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led services. They were also good for providing services for the six key population groups.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and report incidents and near misses. Information about safety was appropriately recorded and reviewed;
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed;
• The practice was clean, hygienic and good infection control arrangements were in place;
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care and treatment was planned and delivered in line with current legislation.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and that they were involved in decisions about their care and treatment;
• Information about the services provided and how to raise any concerns or complaints, was accessible and easy to understand;
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment and urgent same-day access was available;
• Three patients provided feedback within the CQC comment cards about the difficulty in accessing the practice if you used a wheelchair. The practice was in progress of making plans to address these concerns. Otherwise the practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs;
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The practice actively sought feedback from patients.
• The practice had been visited by a team from Skills for People to learn how they could improve the way they met the needs of patients with learning disabilities. They had acted upon the recommendations made.

We saw an area of outstanding practice:

• For the last three years the practice had ran an annual workshop for young people to encourage emotional and physical well-being. Its aim was to improve self-esteem and confidence. The practice presented this at a Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) conference as an exemplar of health promotion.

However, there were also areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

The provider should:

• review their approach to checking on the suitability of staff undertaking the chaperone role within the practice. The practice should consider obtaining police record checks through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) for those staff that may be required to act as a chaperone for vulnerable patients or undertaking risk assessments for those who act as chaperones, but do not require a criminal records check because of the safeguards already in place.

• ensure patients with physical disabilities are supported to have equitable access to the service, by means of reasonable adjustments made by the practice to the facilities.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 14 May 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people with long-term conditions. Nursing staff had lead roles in chronic disease management and patients at risk of hospital admission were identified as a priority. Longer appointments and home visits were available when needed. These patients had a named GP and a structured annual review to check that their health and medication needs were being met. For those people with the most complex needs, the named GP worked with relevant health and care professionals to deliver a multidisciplinary package of care.

Updated 14 May 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, for example, children and young people who had a high number of A&E attendances. Immunisation rates were relatively high for all standard childhood immunisations. Appointments were available outside of school hours and the premises were suitable for children and babies. We saw good examples of joint working with midwives, health visitors and school nurses.

For the last three years the practice had ran an annual workshop for young people to encourage emotional and physical well-being. Its aim was to improve self-esteem and confidence.

Updated 14 May 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 and had a range of enhanced services, for example, in dementia and end of life care. They were responsive to the needs of older people, and offered home visits and rapid access appointments for those with enhanced needs.

For patients on the palliative care register and for the most elderly and frail patients the practice supported them by offering access, with a response within 24 hours, to a GP via the phone when required. Age UK visited the practice weekly to deliver a clinic offering advice and support for older people.

Updated 14 May 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 had adjusted the services they offered to ensure these were accessible, flexible and offered continuity of care. The practice was proactive in offering online services as well as a full range of health promotion and screening that reflects the needs for this age group.

Three patients provided feedback within the CQC comment cards about the difficulty in accessing the practice if you used a wheelchair. The practice was in progress of making plans to address these concerns.

Updated 14 May 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people with poor mental health (including patients with dementia). The practice held a register of patients experiencing poor mental health and there was evidence they carried out annual health checks for these patients. The practice regularly worked with the multi-disciplinary teams in case management of people experiencing poor mental health, including those with dementia.

The practice had told patients experiencing poor mental health about how to access various support groups and voluntary organisations including MIND and SANE. They had systems in place to follow up patients who had attended Accident and Emergency (A&E). Staff had received training on how to care for people with dementia.

Updated 14 May 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable. The practice held a register of patients living in vulnerable circumstances including those with a learning disability. They carried out annual health checks for people with a learning disability. They offered longer appointments for those who required them. The practice had been visited by a team from Skills for People to learn how they could improve the way they met the needs of patients with learning disabilities. They had acted upon the recommendations made.

The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of vulnerable people. They had told vulnerable patients about how to access various support groups and voluntary organisations. Staff knew how to recognise signs of abuse in vulnerable adults and children. Staff were aware of their responsibilities regarding information sharing, documentation of safeguarding concerns and how to contact relevant agencies in normal working hours and out of hours.