The Bridges Medical Practice

Updated 7 February 2023

The Bridges Medical Centre is located in Weymouth at:

26 Commercial Road

Weymouth

Dorset

DT4 7LE

The practice has a branch surgery at:

Littlemoor Surgery.

Louviers Road

Littlemoor

Weymouth

DT3 6SA

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

The practice is situated within the NHS Dorset Integrated Care Board (ICB) delivers General Medical Services (GMS) to a patient population of about 16,7800. This is part of a contract held with NHS England.

The practice is part of a wider network of GP practices. The Bridges Medical Centre is a member of the Two Harbours Healthcare Ltd (Primary Care Network). Within this network the practice is able to deliver additional services to their patients such as leg ulcer clubs, a home visiting service and a frailty service for their patients residing in care homes.

Information published by Public Health England shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the third decile (three of 10). The lower the decile, the more deprived the practice population is relative to others.

The practice is a training practice for registrars undertaking further training to become a GP.

There is a team of 13 GPs working at the practice and branch sites. The practice has a team of three advanced nurse practitioners, seven practice nurses who provide nurse led clinics for long-term conditions, one emergency practitioner, one paramedic, three healthcare assistants and one phlebotomist. The GPs are supported at the practice by the practice manager, a deputy practice manager and a team of reception and administration staff.

The practices are open between 8:15am to 5:30pm Monday to Friday. Extended access is available on a Monday evening until 7pm at The Bridges Medical Centre, and on a Wednesday evening at the Littlemoor branch. The practice offers a range of appointment types including book on the day, telephone consultations and advance appointments.

Out of hours services are accessed through telephoning NHS 111.

Updated 7 February 2023

We carried out an announced focused inspection at The Bridges Medical Practice on 16 November 2022. We inspected three key questions: Safe, Effective and Well-led. Ratings for Caring and Responsive were carried forward from the previous inspection in October 2017.

The practice is rated as good overall.

We have rated the domains as:

Safe - Good

Effective - Good

Caring - Not inspected, rating of Good carried forward from a previous inspection (2017)

Responsive - Not inspected, rating of Good carried forward from a previous inspection (2017)

Well-led - Good

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

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
• 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
• A Staff Questionnaire

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 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.
• 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.
• Staff had completed training appropriate to their role.

Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:

• Continue to improve cervical screening uptake.
• Implement formal clinical supervision for non medical prescribers and clinicians working within advanced roles.
• Complete an annual appraisals for all staff.

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