• Doctor
  • GP practice

The Priory Medical Centre

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Belmont Grove,, Liverpool, Merseyside, L6 4EW (0151) 260 9119

Provided and run by:
The Priory Medical Centre

All Inspections

15 and 24 June 2022

During an inspection looking at part of the service

We carried out an announced inspection at The Priory Medical Centre on 15 and 24 June 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.

Safe - Requires improvement

Effective - Good

Well-led - Good

Following our previous inspection on 8 July 2016, the practice was rated Good overall and for all key questions.

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

Why we carried out this inspection

We undertook this inspection as part of a random selection of services rated Good and Outstanding to test the reliability of our new monitoring approach.

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.

  • 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

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:

  • The practice had made adjustments associated with the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that patients were kept safe and protected from avoidable harm.
  • Staff told us they felt supported by the management team and if they raised concerns these would be listened to and acted upon.
  • The practice had an open and supportive culture, where there was a focus on improvement.

However:

  • We found some patients prescribed high risk medication had not had the appropriate monitoring.
  • Historical safety alerts were not always considered when prescribing medicines.
  • We found safeguarding training had not been completed by all staff in line with the latest intercollegiate guidance.
  • We found gaps in the recruitment and induction documentation.
  • Incidents were not always reported and recorded in one system. Records of clinical audits had not been kept.

We found one breach of regulation. The provider must:

  • Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients.

The provider should:

  • Review the infection prevention audit template to reference COVID-19 measures and guidance.
  • Continue to monitor and improve cervical screening uptake.

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

8 July 2016

During an inspection looking at part of the service

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this practice on 10 December 2015. A breach of legal requirements was found. After the comprehensive inspection, the practice wrote to us with an action plan to say what they would do to meet legal requirements in relation to:

  • Regulation 19 HSCA (RA) Regulations 2014 Fit and proper persons employed.
  • Regulation 12 HSCA (RA) Regulations 2014 Safe Care and treatment

We undertook this focused inspection to check that they had followed their action plan and to confirm that they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to those requirements. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for The Priory Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Our key findings were as follows:

  • The practice had addressed the issues identified during the previous inspection. Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks and professional registrations had been completed for all necessary staff.
  • The practice had updated its fire risk assessment and carried out health and safety risk assessments.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

10th December 2015

During a routine inspection

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The Priory Medical Centre on the 10th December 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Our key findings were as follows:

  • Clinical staff regularly reviewed significant events and discussed them with the whole staff team to identify and learn from events.

  • Improvements were needed in regard to mitigating safety due to lack of an overall fire risk assessment, no recent infection control audit or hand hygiene audit, gaps in training records and no evidence of environmental risk assessments being in place.

  • Some of the staff files lacked evidence of necessary checks required to show safe recruitment and selection procedures.

  • The practice was clean and tidy. The practice had good facilities in a purpose built building with access for patients with disabilities.
  • The clinical staff proactively sought to educate patients to improve their lifestyles by regularly inviting patients for health assessments. Services were planned and delivered to take into account the needs of different patient groups.
  • The practice worked closely with other organisations and with the local community in planning how services were provided to ensure that they met people’s needs.

  • Patients spoke highly about the practice and the whole staff team.

  • The practice sought patient views about improvements that could be made to the service, including through the Patient Participation Group (PPG).
  • Information about services and how to complain was available but not accessible in reception, although staff rectified this during our visit. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted upon.
  • There was a clear leadership structure with delegated duties distributed amongst the team. The staff worked well together as a team with most staff having worked at the practice for many years offering good stability to patients.

  • There were systems in place to monitor and improve quality.

There were areas of practice where the provider must make improvements.

  • Take action to ensure its recruitment policy, procedures and arrangements are improved to ensure necessary employment checks are in place for all staff and the required information in respect of workers is held. Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, Fit and Proper Person Employed, Regulation 19 1)2)4)5).

  • Ensure that health and safety arrangements including risks assessments are reviewed and accessible to all staff and state clearly what actions are in place to maintain people’s safety. Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, Safe care and treatment, Regulation 12 1)2)a)b)c)d)g)

However there were areas of practice where the provider should make improvements:

  • To ensure safeguard training is available and provided for all staff in regard to vulnerable children adults and children to ensure staff are updated in the level of training needed for their role.
  • To develop risk assessments and guidance regarding the decision to not carry emergency drugs in GP bags.

  • To review training records to ensure that all staff have evidence of updated training relevant to their role.

  • To develop and review an action plan in response to the patient survey including all initiatives raised by staff so they could be effectively monitored for improvements.

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

30 September 2013

During a routine inspection

We spoke with five people who used the service. People were very positive about the treatment they had received. They told us they had been able to make decisions about their treatment and they told us they had been treated with dignity and respect. Their comments included:-

'The practice feels like a friend.'

'The girls are very polite despite some challenging customers.'

'They explain things in layman's language.'

'The nurses give you advice leaflets to help you stop smoking.'

We found that patients care and treatment was assessed, planned and delivered in order to meet their needs. Staff were inducted, trained and supervised appropriately. The provider had effective systems in place for monitoring the quality of services. The environment within the surgery was clean and tidy. A patient participation group functioned well within the practice.