• Doctor
  • GP practice

Magdalen Medical Practice

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

The Magdalen Medical Practice, Lawson Road, Norwich, Norfolk, NR3 4LF (01603) 475555

Provided and run by:
Magdalen Medical Practice

All Inspections

29 November 2023

During a routine inspection

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Magdalen Medical Practice on 29 November 2023. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.

Safe - Good

Effective Good

Caring - Good

Responsive - Outstanding

Well-led – Good

We have rated the practice as outstanding for providing responsive services because:

  • The practice had a proactive approach to continuous improvement. The practice had further developed the services offered to patients, in response to patient surveys and other patient feedback, especially in relation to access and for specific patient groups. This had resulted in above average patient satisfaction over the last 4 years in the National GP Patient Survey data.

Following our previous inspection on 26 November 2015, the practice was rated good overall and for all key questions. The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Magdalen Medical Practice on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection.

We carried out this comprehensive inspection in line with our inspection priorities and covered all key areas.

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 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 and reviewing evidence from the provider.
  • Reviewing staff questionnaires.
  • Undertaking a short site visit.

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 provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
  • Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
  • Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
  • Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way. Review of the National GP Patient Survey data for the past 4 years, has seen the practice perform consistently above the national and local averages for access indicators. The practice had processes in place to monitor patient demand and adjust their appointment systems.
  • The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.

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Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:

  • Monitor the newly implemented process for making urgent referrals for suspected cancer so they are all sent within 24 hours.
  • Strengthen the system for acting on patient safety alerts by reauditing to check identified actions have been completed, and to identify patients who may become affected by the patient safety alert.
  • Monitor the newly updated policy and process to review patients prescribed a rescue steroid for asthma, and to adjust the quantity of medicines prescribed to further encourage patient compliance with monitoring.
  • Continue to monitor and reduce the backlog of medical records to be summarised.
  • Continue to monitor and encourage patients to attend for their appointments for the national cervical screening programme and with the current action plan to support the identification of carers.

​​​​​​​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

8 April 2016

During an inspection looking at part of the service

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced focused inspection of Magdalen Medical Practice on 8 April 2016. This inspection was undertaken to follow up a requirement notice we issued to the provider at our previous inspection of as they had failed to comply with the law in respect of providing safe care and treatment for patients, specifically in respect of the recruitment of staff.

We undertook this focused follow up inspection to check that they had followed their plan and to confirm that they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to this requirement. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports' link for on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

13 October 2015

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Magdalen Medical Centre on 13 October 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

  • Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and to report incidents and near misses. Information about safety was recorded, monitored, and addressed.
  • The partners were committed to improving primary healthcare and recognised the value of research, and regularly participated in a range of studies and research initiatives.
  • Risks to patients were assessed and well managed. However fire drill were not regularly practiced by staff.
  • Chronic diseases were managed by well-qualified and experienced nurses who followed guidelines.
  • Patients said they were treated with empathy and respect and were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
  • Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and that there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.
  • 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 sought feedback from staff and patients.
  • Improvement was needed to strengthen prescription pad security and to ensure that all prescriptions were signed for by the receiving pharmacies.
  • Improvement was needed to strengthen recruitment procedures and ensure that all pre-employment information was obtained by the practice.

We saw several area of outstanding practice:

  • One of the GPs had trained as a breast feeding counsellor and provided voluntary breast feeding counselling at the local hospital and children’s centre.
  • One of the GPs regularly offered health promotion advice on radio Norwich.

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

Importantly the provider must:

  • Ensure recruitment arrangements include all necessary employment checks for all staff.

Importantly the provider should:

  • Ensure that blank prescription forms are tracked through the practice in accordance with national guidance.
  • Ensure that staff regularly undertake fire drills so that they are aware of what to do in in the event of an emergency
  • Confirm the immunisation status for all clinicians.
  • Ensure that repeat prescriptions are signed for when received by pharmacies.
  • Ensure that clinical audit cycles are completed.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice