The Care Quality Commission
  • Doctor
  • GP practice

Archived: Locality Health Centre

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

The Locality Health Centre, 68 Lonsdale Avenue, Weston Super Mare, Somerset, BS23 3SJ 0345 350 3973

Provided and run by:
The Locality Health Centre CIC

Important: The provider of this service changed. See new profile

All Inspections

12 December 2017

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

This practice is rated as Good overall.

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? - Good

As part of our inspection process, we also look at the quality of care for specific population groups. The population groups are rated as:

Older People – Good

People with long-term conditions – Good

Families, children and young people – Good

Working age people (including those recently retired and students – Good

People whose circumstances may make them vulnerable – Good

People experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia) - Good

We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection at Locality Health Centre on 12th December 2017 as part of our inspection programme.

At this inspection we found:

  • The practice had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the practice learned from them and improved their processes.

  • The practice routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.

  • Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.

  • Patients did not always find the appointment system easy to use; the practice was looking a system to improve this.

  • There was a focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.

  • They were knowledgeable about issues and priorities relating to the quality and future of services. They understood the challenges involved and were addressing them.

  • The practice was sited within the For All Health Living Centre which was part of the central hub of the community and worked with other organisations to improve the outcomes for patients in that area.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are to:

  • Review how patients with long term conditions or those prescribed with at risk medicines receive their reviews in a timely way in accordance with guidance.

  • Review systems to ensure there is a cross practice system for sharing information and learning from incidents.

  • Review systems to ensure changes are made to the policies and procedures currently in use so that they reflect the appropriate organisation ownership and offer clarity to staff.

  • Review processes for recruitment documentation to ensure it is held together in one place and includes detail of the immunisation status of clinical staff.

  • Review systems of how patients were to gain access to the practice by phone as 55% stated they could get easily get through in comparision to the CCG – 70%; national average - 71%.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

9 April 2015

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Locality Health Centre on 9 April 2015. Overall the practice is rated as Outstanding.

Specifically, we found the practice to be outstanding for providing responsive, effective services and for being well led. It was also outstanding for providing services for older patients, families, children and young people and people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable. There were also elements of outstanding practice for other patients.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

  • Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and to report incidents and near misses. Information about safety was recorded, monitored, appropriately reviewed and addressed.
  • The practice used innovative and proactive methods to improve patient outcomes, working with other local providers to share best practice. For example, the practice maximised ease of access for patients by encouraging other services to operate from the centre, these currently include, pulmonary rehabilitation, retinal screening, and a heart failure nurse service.
  • Risks to patients were assessed and well managed, with the exception of those relating to recruitment checks.
  • Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff had received training appropriate to their roles and any further training needs had been identified and planned.
  • Patients were treated holistically in an environment which provided access to a range of community based services which supported their wellbeing.
  • Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
  • Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
  • Patients said they generally found it easy to make an appointment and that there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.
  • The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
  • There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.

We saw areas of outstanding practice:

  • To help address concerns about pregnancy in young people the nurse, who is also the ‘No Worries’ advisor, visited a local school to advise on contraception and pregnancy avoidance. The nurse also .ran a specific clinic about sexual health each Wednesday for young people under the age of 21 years. The co-location of the practice with the children’s family services, ‘Troubled Family’ team, family nurse practitioners, health trainers and being part of the new Bournville One Police initiative ensures the practice is integrated into other services and information sharing took place with very local services. The Centre also operates a food bank to which the practice refers families.
  • The practice experiences a very high appointment demand for conditions of low mood and anxiety. These demands are met by GPs and nurses working in partnership with other organisations the wellbeing worker employed in the centre. These support sessions played a key role in the emotional support of patients and helped re-able patients.
  • The practice shared facilities with the Healthy Living Centre. Facilities included a church, a café, a library, a nursery, a ‘shop’ and a clothing bank as well as other community spaces. The clothing is brought to the shop and resold, it is also given away at the clothing bank to those in need. Funds raised go towards supporting a local food bank which currently supports approximately 70 of the practices patients. The ‘shop’, located adjacent to the practice waiting area, supplies fruit and vegetables which are not easily available locally. Patients are often encouraged to use this facility by the clinical team as part of healthy lifestyle advice. All aspects of the centre were linked and provided significant support for patients registered with the practice.

However there were areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

Importantly the provider should

  • Review how formal and informal multidisciplinary meetings are recorded.
  • Review how learning from complaints can be shared more clearly with staff.
  • Review processes for managing hospital discharge letters.
  • Ensure copies of training certificates are held in staff files.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP

Chief Inspector of General Practice