Background to this inspection
Updated
26 July 2019
Modality Partnership is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) as a partnership, with several services throughout England. Modality Darlaston Practice is located in Darlaston, West Midlands. The practice is part of the NHS Walsall Clinical Commissioning Group. The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening procedures, maternity and midwifery services, surgical procedures and treatment of disease disorder or injury.
The practice holds a General Medical Services (GMS) contact with NHS England. A GMS contract is a contract between NHS England and general practices for delivering general medical services and is the commonest form of GP contract.
The practice operates from Darlaston Health Centre, Pinfold Street, Darlaston, West Midlands, WS10 8SY.
There are approximately 5,023 patients of various ages registered and cared for at the practice. Twenty-eight per cent of the people in the practice area are from black and minority ethnic (BME) groups. The practice provides GP services in an area considered to be almost the most deprived within its locality. Demographically the practice has a higher than average patient population aged under 18 years, with 28% falling into this category, compared with the CCG average of 24% and national average of 21%. Twelve per cent of the practice population is above 65 years which is lower than the CCG average of 16% and the national average of 17%. The percentage of patients with a long-standing health condition is 41% which is below the local CCG average of 52% and the national average of 51%. The practice life expectancy for patients is 76 years for males and 82 years for females which is below the national average.
The staffing consists of:
•Two GPs (one male / one female) supported by a long-term locum.
•Two part time practice nurses and a part time health care assistant.
•A practice manager supported by a team of reception/administrative staff.
The practice is open between 8am and 6.30pm every day. When the practice is closed patients are directed towards the out of hours provider via the NHS 111 service. Patients also have access to the Extended GP Access Service between 6.30pm and 9pm on weekdays, 10am to 3pm on weekends, and 11am to 1.30pm on bank holidays.
The practice does not routinely provide an out of hours to their own patients but patients are directed to the out of hours service, through the NHS 111 service when the practice closed.
Additional information about the practice is available on their website at www.modalitypartnership.nhs.uk/your-gp-practice/west-midlands/gp/modality-darlaston-practice
Updated
26 July 2019
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Modality Darlaston Practice on 19 June 2019 as part of our inspection programme.
At our last inspection in July 2018, we rated the practice as requires improvement for providing safe and well led services because:
- Risk assessments were not on file for staff who started prior to receipt of a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.
- Not all required recruitment information was available in staff files.
- There was a lack of oversight of renewal dates for professional registrations, training files and staff records.
- Not all staff were up to date with essential training.
- Limited numbers of significant events were recorded and there was no evidence to support that the practice had reviewed previous events to identify themes.
- Complaints had not been investigated and responded to in line with the provider’s policy and procedure.
- The practice had not been proactive in managing changes to staffing or assessed and monitored the impact on safety.
Requirement notices in relation to safe care and treatment and fit and proper persons employed were served. The full comprehensive report for the July 2018 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Modality Darlaston Practice on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
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 had made improvements since our inspection on July 2018, and leaders demonstrated that they had the capacity and skills to deliver high quality, sustainable care.
- The practice had made improvements so that it provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
- Improvements had been made to the management of risk and learning from significant events.
- The practice had addressed the shortfalls in staffing through the use of locum clinical staff.
- 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.
- Effective systems and processes had been introduced to ensure good governance.
- The practice was making use of IT systems to improve services for patients. This included video consultations via smart phones, and MJOG text messaging services.
The areas where the provider should make improvements are:
- Consider ways to increase the uptake of national programmes such as cervical screening, bowel cancer screening and childhood immunisations.
- Notify the Care Quality Commission as required of incidents, events and changes that affect a service or the people using it.
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