Haltwhistle Medical Group

Updated 25 April 2018

The Haltwhistle Medical Group is located in the Haltwhistle area of Northumberland and provides care and treatment to 5,700 patients of all ages, based on a Personal Medical Services (PMS) contract. The practice is part of the NHS Northumberland clinical commissioning group (CCG). We visited the following location as part of the inspection:

Haltwhistle Medical Group, Health Centre, Greencroft Avenue, Northumberland, NE49 9AP.

The practice serves an area where deprivation is lower than the England average. Information supplied by Public Health England places the practice in the fourth least deprived decile. In general, people living in more deprived areas tend to have a greater need for health services. Haltwhistle Medical Group has fewer patients aged under 18 years of age, and more patients over 65 years, than the England averages. The percentage of people with a long-standing health condition is above the England average, and the percentage of people with caring responsibilities is similar to the England average. Life expectancy for women (87.5) and men (81.3) is similar to the England averages of 83.1 and 79.4 respectively. National data showed that 0.7% of the population are from non-white ethnic groups.

The practice is located in a purpose built, two-storey building which had been fully refurbished in 2012. All consultation and treatment rooms are on the ground floor. Access for people with disabilities is provided throughout the premises. The premises also accommodated other community based healthcare services. The practice has four GP partners (one male and three females), three salaried GPs (one male and two females), who between them provided 36 weekly half-day clinical sessions. There were also three practice nurses (female), providing 75.5 hours of nursing time each week, two healthcare assistants (female), a practice manager, a deputy practice manager and a small team of administrative staff. The practice provided training opportunities for doctors training to be GPs, as part of the North Cumbria GP Training Programme.

The practice is open Monday to Friday between 8am and 18:30pm. The practice is closed at weekends. Telephone consultation appointments were provided each day. Extended hours appointments are provided on some days, from 7am and 8am and 6:30pm and 8pm. (The availability of these extra services varied from one week to the next.)

When the practice is closed patients can access out-of-hours care via Vocare, known locally as Northern Doctors, and the NHS 111 service.

Updated 25 April 2018

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

At our previous inspection on 14 October 2014, we rated the practice as good overall. At this inspection, we have also rated the practice as 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 Haltwhistle Medical Group on 11 December 2017 to check the provider continues to meet the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

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 and treatment they provided. Staff ensured that care and treatment was delivered in line with evidence- based guidelines.

• Patients found the appointment system easy to use and reported that they were able to access care and treatment when they needed it.

• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.

• The practice had a clear vision to deliver high quality care and promote good outcomes for patients. There were a strong and cohesive staff team, with high levels of staff satisfaction.

We also saw an area of outstanding practice:

• Feedback from patients about access to appointments, the practice’s opening hours and the quality of their care and treatment was continuously very positive. The results of the NHS National GP Patient Survey, published in July 2017, showed patients rated the practice higher for all aspects of care, when compared to the local clinical commissioning group (CCG) and national averages. This high level of achievement had been sustained over a number of years.

The area where the provider should make an improvement is:

• Consider carrying out regular audits of the practice’s consent process.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 25 April 2018

Updated 25 April 2018

Updated 25 April 2018

Updated 25 April 2018

Updated 25 April 2018

Updated 25 April 2018