Background to this inspection
Updated
10 January 2019
Wellspring Medical Practice provides care and treatment to around 5,400 patients. The practice is part of North Tyneside clinical commissioning group (CCG) and operates on a General Medical Services (GMS) contract agreement for general practice.
The practice provides services from the following address, which we visited as part of the inspection:
•Killingworth Health Centre, Citadel East, Killingworth, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE12 6HS
The surgery is located in purpose-built premises. All patient facilities are on the ground floor. There is a car park, an accessible WC, wheelchair and step-free access.
Patients can book appointments in person, on-line or by telephone.
The service for patients requiring urgent medical attention out of hours is provided by the NHS 111 service and Vocare (known locally as Northern Doctors Urgent Care).
The practice has:
•two GP partners (both female),
•three salaried GPs (two female and one male),
•three practice nurses (all female),
•one healthcare assistant,
•a practice manager, and
•seven staff who carry out reception and administrative duties.
The practice is a training practice and one of the GPs is an accredited GP trainer. At the time of the inspection one trainee GPs was working at the practice.
The age profile of the practice population is broadly in line with the local averages. Information taken from Public Health England placed the area in which the practice is located in the fifth less deprived decile. In general, people living in more deprived areas tend to have greater need for health services.
Updated
10 January 2019
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Wellspring Medical Practice on 12 December 2018 as part of our inspection programme.
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-centred care.
- There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.
We saw some areas of outstanding practice including:
- The practice had recently introduced a Health e-zone; two tablets had been installed in a quiet area of the waiting room where patients could access advice including on mental health and young people’s health issues. Patients could book a time slot to use the devices which provided guidance on self-care, supporting tools and links to other organisations.
- A ‘Surgery POD’ was available for patients to use in the waiting room. This enabled patients to measure their own vital signs, including weight and blood pressure, and to answer a number of clinical questionnaires via a touch screen device. Staff told us this was used by many patients who may not have usually had such health checks. During the day of our inspection we saw this was used by several patients.
Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.
Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP
Chief Inspector of General Practice