Corbridge Medical Group

Updated 18 October 2022

Corbridge Medical Centre is registered with CQC to provide Primary Medical Services to patients from one location:

• Newcastle Road, Corbridge, Northumberland, NE45 5LG.

The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities: diagnostic and screening procedures; treatment of disease, disorder or injury; maternity and midwifery services; family planning; and surgical procedures.

The practice is situated within the NHS North East and Cumbria integrated care board (ICB) and delivers General Medical Services (GMS) to about 7100 registered patients. This is part of a contract held with NHS England.

Opening times are 8.00 am to 6.00pm Tuesday to Friday and 8.00am to 8.00am on Mondays.

Information taken from Public Health England places the area in which the practice is in the ninth decile. In general, people living in less deprived areas tend to have lesser need for health services. However, the practice’s age distribution profile is weighted towards an above national average older population with almost 32% of their list being over the age of 65.

The practice is part of a wider network of GP practices and is a member of the West Northumberland Primary Care Network (PCN). Out of hours services are provided by NHS 111.

Updated 18 October 2022

We carried out an announced focused inspection at Corbridge Medical Group on 16 and 19 August 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.

The key question ratings were:

Safe - Good

Effective - Good

Well-led – Good

At our previous inspection in February 2016 we rated the practice as Outstanding overall and for the key questions of responsive and well-led. They were rated as Good for the key questions of safe, effective and caring.

At this inspection, we found that those areas previously regarded as outstanding practice were now embedded throughout the majority of GP practices. While the provider had maintained this good practise, the threshold to achieve an outstanding rating had not been reached. The practice is therefore now rated good for providing well-led services.

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Corbridge Medical Group on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection

This was a focused inspection to respond to risk and follow up on concerns that were raised with us.

How we carried out the inspection

Throughout the pandemic CQC has continued to regulate and respond to risk. However, taking into account the circumstances arising as a result of the pandemic, and in order to reduce risk, we have conducted our inspections differently.

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site. This was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements.

This included:

• Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing.
• Staff questionnaires
• Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system and discussing findings with the provider.
• Reviewing patient records to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider.
• Requesting evidence from the provider.
• 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 have rated this practice as Good overall

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. The practice was working hard to ensure backlogs created by COVID-19 were being reduced quickly and safely.
• The practice adjusted how it delivered services to meet the needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.

We saw areas of outstanding practice:

• The practice had carefully assessed the way they managed access for people exhibiting potential symptoms of cancer. They had seen a fall in mortality rates following this work.
• The practice had taken an active role in developing a local paramedic home visiting service. The local primary care network employed three paramedics who provide home visit support mainly for the frail and elderly.
• The practice continued to promote a positive and supportive culture within their workforce.

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 Hospitals and Interim Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services