Archived: Rowlands Gill Medical Centre

Updated 7 November 2016

Rowlands Gill Medical Group provides care and treatment to approximately 6,662 patients from the Rowlands Gill, High Spen, Chopwell and Winlaton Mill areas of Tyne and Wear. The practice is part of the NHS Newcastle Gateshead Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and operates on a General Medical Services (GMS) contract.

The practice provides services from the following address:

The Medical Centre

The Grove

Rowlands Gill

Tyne and Wear, NE39 1PW

The surgery is located in a converted two storey ex-residential property. All reception and consultation rooms are on the ground floor and fully accessible for patients with mobility issues. On-site car parking is available, which includes dedicated disabled car parking spaces.

The surgery is open between 8am and 6pm on a Monday to Friday. Appointments are available as follows:

• Monday - 8.10am to 12 midday and 1.30pm to 5.10pm
• Tuesday – 8.10am to 11.50am and 1.30pm to 5.10pm
• Wednesday – 8.10am to 12 midday and 1.30pm to 4.50pm
• Thursday – 8.10am to 12 midday and 1.30pm to 4.50pm
• Friday – 8.10am to 11.30am and 1.30pm to 5pm.

A duty doctor is available each afternoon until the surgery closes at 6pm. Patients registered with the practice are also able to access pre bookable appointments with a nurse or GP at extended access hub sites located in Blaydon and Gateshead. These appointments are available from 8am to 8pm on a weekday and 9am to 2pm on a weekend at Blaydon and from 4pm to 8pm on a weekday and 8am to 2pm on a weekend at Gateshead.

The service for patients requiring urgent medical attention out-of-hours is provided by the NHS 111 service and Gateshead Community Based Care Ltd. Which is also known locally as GatDoc.

Rowlands Gill Medical Centre offers a range of services and clinic appointments including long term condition reviews, childhood immunisation service, anti-coagulation clinic and antenatal monitoring.

The practice consists of:

• Two GP partners (one male and one female)
• Two salaried GPs (both female)
• Three practice nurses (all female)
• Ten non-clinical members of staff including an acting practice manager, secretary, health care assistant, administration assistants and receptionists.

The area in which the practice is located is in the sixth (out of ten) most deprived decile. In general people living in more deprived areas tend to have greater need for health services.

The average life expectancy for the male practice population is 78 (CCG average 77 and national average 79) and for the female population 84 (CCG average 81 and national average 83).

67.7% of the practice population were reported as having a long standing health condition (CCG average 56.9% and national average 54%). Generally a higher percentage can lead to an increased demand for GP services. 60% of the practice population were recorded as being in paid work or full time education (CCG average 60.5% and national average 61.5%). Deprivation levels affecting children were lower than local and national averages. Deprivation levels effecting older people were lower than the local CCG average but higher than the national average.

Updated 7 November 2016

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced inspection of this practice on 8 September 2015, which resulted in the practice being rated as good overall but as requiring improvement for the responsive domain. This was because:

• Patient satisfaction results in relation to accessing services at the practice were lower than local clinical commissioning group (CCG) and national averages, particularly in relation to satisfaction with opening hours and ease of being able to get through to the surgery by phone.

In September 2016 we commenced a focussed inspection where we asked the practice to send us information to evidence that they had responded to the issues previously identified and improved access to services. This report only covers our findings in relation to this requirement. You can read the report from out last comprehensive inspection by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Rowlands Gill medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Our key findings were as follows:

• Current National GP Patients Survey results (July 2016) indicated that some areas of patient satisfaction relating to access to appointments had improved.
• The practice had carried out their own surveys to canvas patient opinion in relation to access and had taken appropriate action in response to the results.
• The practice had taken a number of steps to improve appointment availability and their telephone system.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 15 October 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of patients with long-term conditions.

The practice had planned for, and made arrangements to deliver, care and treatment to meet the needs of patients with long-term conditions. Staff had lead roles in chronic disease management and patients at risk of hospital admission were identified as a priority. Patients with long-term conditions such as hypertension and diabetes were offered a structured annual review to check that their health and medication needs were being met, or more often where this was judged necessary by the GPs.

Longer appointments and home visits were available when needed. The practice’s electronic system was used to flag when patients were due for review. This helped to ensure the staff with responsibility for inviting people in for review managed this effectively.

Updated 15 October 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of families, children and young people.

The practice had identified the needs of families, children and young people, and put plans in place to meet them. There were processes in place for the regular assessment of children’s development. Systems were in place for identifying and following-up children who were considered to be at-risk of harm or neglect. For example, the needs of all at-risk children were regularly reviewed at practice multidisciplinary meetings involving child care professionals such as health visitors.

Appointments were available outside of school hours and the premises were suitable for children and babies. Arrangements had been made for new babies to receive the immunisations they needed. Vaccination rates for 12 and 24 month old babies and five year old children were in line with the local CCG area.

Pregnant women were able to access an antenatal clinic provided by healthcare staff attached to the practice. The practice had obtained 100% of the QOF points available to them for providing recommended maternity services and carrying out specified child health surveillance interventions. Nationally reported QOF data (2013/14) showed antenatal care and screening were offered in line with current local guidelines. The data also showed that child development checks were offered at intervals consistent with national guidelines. Cervical screening rates (77.2%) were below the local and national averages (81.6% and 81.9% respectively).

Updated 15 October 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of older people.

Nationally reported data showed the practice had generally good outcomes for conditions commonly found amongst older people.

The practice offered personalised care to meet the needs of the older people in its population. The practice had written to patients over the age of 75 years to inform them who their named GP was. The practice was responsive to the needs of older people, and offered home visits for health checks and flu vaccinations. A register of housebound patients was maintained; each of these patients also had a designated doctor. GPs had good links to the local care home and regularly visited patients living there. The practice had been involved in setting up ‘Rowlands Gill Live at Home’ service. This is a volunteer befriending and visiting service for the elderly. At the time of the inspection there were 115 members from within the local community and 45 volunteers.

The practice maintained a palliative care register and offered immunisations for pneumonia and shingles to older people.

Updated 15 October 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 it offered to ensure these were accessible and flexible. The practice offered online services as well as a full range of health promotion and screening which reflected the needs for this age group.

Patients could order repeat prescriptions and book appointments on-line. The practice provided additional services such as health checks for the over 40s and travel vaccinations.

Updated 15 October 2015

The practice is rated as good for the care of people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia).

The practice kept a register of patients with mental health needs which was used to ensure they received relevant checks and tests.

Staff worked closely with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of people experiencing poor mental health including those with dementia. Care plans were in place for patients with dementia. Patients experiencing poor mental health were sign posted to various support groups and third sector organisations, for example MIND counsellors, community psychiatric nurses and the memory protection service.

However, nationally reported QOF data (2013/14) showed the practice had only obtained 85.8% of the points available to them for providing recommended care and treatment for patients with poor mental health. This was 7.6 percentage points below the local CCG average and 4.6 points below the England average.

Updated 15 October 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. Patients with learning disabilities were invited to attend the practice for annual health checks. The practice offered longer appointments for people with a learning disability, if required.

The practice had effective working relationships with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of vulnerable people. 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 and out of hours.

The practice worked closely with a local carer’s service. Further work was planned to raise the awareness of young carers. One of the team had recently been identified as young carers champion and there were plans to work with a local support group.

A member of staff was fluent in British sign language. One of the GP partners ran a weekly clinic for those experiencing problems with substance misuse.