South Hylton Surgery Also known as Sunderland GP Alliance Limited

We carried out an announced inspection at South Hylton Surgery on 20 and 26 April 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.

The ratings for the key questions are:

Safe - Good

Effective - Good

Caring - Good

Responsive - Good

Well-led - Outstanding

This is the first time we have inspected this practice under the current registered provider, Sunderland GP Alliance Limited.

The practice was previously registered under the provider known as South Hylton Surgery. The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for South Hylton Surgery on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection

This inspection was a comprehensive inspection to check how the practice was meeting essential standards and to inspect and rate it following the new registration with the Care Quality Commission. As this was an inspection of a new registration, we inspected all five key questions. These are: is the practice safe, effective, caring, responsive, and well led?

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 phone calls and 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

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 have rated this practice as Good overall

We found that:

• Patients were protected by a strong safety system, with a focus on openness and transparency.
• There were comprehensive systems in place to keep patients safe, which take into account current best practice.
• There was a proactive approach to anticipating and managing risks. Innovation was encouraged to achieve sustained improvements.
• 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 recognised it had sometimes been a challenge for patients getting through by telephone to make an appointment. They continued to seek ways to improve and support good access for patients.
• The leadership governance and culture at the practice were improving the delivery of high-quality, community focused, person-centred care.
• There were high levels of staff satisfaction. Staff were proud of the organisation and there were high levels of staff engagement. Leaders endeavoured to motivate staff.
• There was a clear and proactive approach to seeking new ways to provide care and treatment.

We saw examples of outstanding practice:

• The provider had set up a ‘patient intervention team’ of allied healthcare professionals to increase support to vulnerable patients across their three practices and to free up more appointments with GPs.
• The practice had carried out a significant amount of audits and other quality improvement work to enhance patient care.

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