Background to this inspection
Updated
9 August 2019
Tamar Medical Centre is a practice located in the village of Perton, Wolverhampton. The practice is situated in a purpose-built building.
The village used to have good public transport links but there are now limited buses to the more rural areas.
The practice has a list size of 4,397 patients living in Perton and surrounding villages. The practice population has low deprivation and low unemployment when compared to national averages. Life expectancy is in line with the national average.
The practice is run by a single-handed GP who employs three regular locums, two male and one female. The GPs are assisted by a clinical team consisting of a practice nurse and an assistant practitioner. The administration team consists of a practice manager a project manager and support staff.
The practice is open from 8am to 6.30pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and from 8am to 1pm on Wednesdays. The practice offers extended clinics as part of the GP first Federation and a new Primary Care Network (PCN) within a South East Staffordshire and Seisdon Peninsular.
When the practice is closed patients are asked to dial the NHS 111 service and there is an out of hours service provided by Vocare. The nearest A&E unit is located at the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust: New Cross Hospital. There are minor injury units at Dudley and Wolverhampton.
The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening procedures, maternity and midwifery services, family planning, surgical procedures and treatment of disease, disorder or injury.
Tamar Medical Centre is a member of NHSE South East Staffordshire and Seisdon Peninsular Clinical Commissioning Group and provides services under the terms of a general medical services (GMS) contract. This is the commonest contract between general practices and NHS England for delivering services to the local community.
Updated
9 August 2019
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Tamar Medical Centre on 16 July 2019 as part of our inspection programme. The practice had re- registered as a singlehanded GP with the Care Quality Commission in March 2019. We therefore carried out a comprehensive inspection of the service under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. We carried out a planned inspection to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
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 and good for all population groups.
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.
- The practice organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs. Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
- The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.
Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:
- Continue to improve the identification of carers to enable this group of patients to access the care and support they need.
- Review their provision of emergency equipment.
We found two areas of outstanding practice.
- The practice had developed, established and continued to run a voluntary once a month community Perton and District Diabetes Support group (PADDS), from the local library, on a Saturday morning. The assistant practitioner supported by the practice manager gave their own time to provide a support and information service, with guest speakers invited to talk on relevant topics, to patients’ relatives, and friends who may have diabetes, or people who simply want to know more about what diabetes is and how it could affect them. The practice donates all of the raffle prizes to the group and have a regular attendance of 25-30 people monthly.
- The practice supported end of life patients with their choice for preferred place of death and carried out an audit to support this.
We found one area of Information technology innovation:
- The practice team had designed and developed a comprehensive master tracker system, to support them with safety, management and stock control. Every aspect was auditable, and every action taken had a reminder, for the next action needed. Almost every possible element which contributed to safety (and all other areas of practice management and service delivery) was included on the master tracker.
Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.
Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care