- GP practice
Consett Medical Centre
Report from 20 December 2024 assessment
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of Assessment: 27 January 2025 to 30 January 2025. Consett Medical Centre is a GP practice and provides General Medical Services (GMS) under a locally agreed contract with NHS England to approximately 16,800 patients. 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 deprivation score of the area in which the practice is situated is 5 (1 being most deprived, 10 being less deprived). This assessment considered the demographics of the people using the service, the context the service was working within and how this impacted service delivery. This was a responsive assessment conducted to determine if there were improvements since the previous inspection in November 2022.
We found 1 breach of regulation in relation to safe care and treatment, with concerns regarding the safe management of medicines. We asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment. However, the completion of clinical tasks had improved since the last assessment, the service had a good learning culture and people could raise concerns. Managers investigated incidents thoroughly. Staff understood and managed risks. The facilities and equipment were clean, well-maintained and met the needs of the people. There were enough staff with the right skills, qualifications and experience. Managers made sure staff received training and regular appraisals to maintain high-quality care.
People were involved in decisions about their care. The service provided information people could understand. People knew how to give feedback and were confident the service took it seriously and acted on it. Access had improved since the last assessment, with ongoing evaluations. People received fair and equal care. The service worked to reduce health and care inequalities through training and feedback.
People's experience of this service
The majority of people were positive about the quality of their care and treatment.
Recent survey results from the NHS Friends and Family Test, indicated a high level of satisfaction with the services provided. In January 2025, more than 92% of respondents indicated that they were likely or very likely to recommend the GP practice to their friends and family.
The latest GP National Patient Survey showed that patient satisfaction with their overall experience of contacting the practice and the ease of contacting their GP on the telephone, was lower than national average, however this had improved since the last assessment.
There was an active patient participation group (PPG) who represented the views of people using the service. Representatives from the PPG described how managers made positive changes because of feedback. The PPG supported the practice in the recent recruitment of staff, the update of the telephone system and enhancing their social media presence.
Leaders from an aligned care home provided positive feedback on the standard of care delivered by Consett Medical Centre to their residents.