St Hilary Group Practice

Updated 3 January 2017

St Hilary Group Practice is based in Wallasey, Wirral. There were 5561patients on the practice register at the time of our inspection.

The practice is a training and teaching practice managed by four GP partners (two male, two female) and one salaried GP. There is a nurse practitioner, a practice nurse and a healthcare assistant. The practice employs a phlebotomist and a counsellor. Members of clinical staff are supported by a practice manager, reception and administration staff.

The practice is open 8am to 6pm every weekday but is closed every Friday between 12.30pm to 1.45pm for staff training. The practice offers extended hours pre bookable appointments on a Monday evening clinic until 7.30pm. Patients requiring a GP outside of normal working hours are advised to contact the GP out of hours service by calling 111.

The practice has a Personal Medical Services (PMS) contract and has enhanced services contracts which include childhood vaccinations. The practice is part of NHS Wirral local commissioning group.

Updated 3 January 2017

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at St Hilary Group Practice on 6 December. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• The practice is situated in a purpose built health centre. The practice was clean and had good facilities including disabled access, translation services and a hearing loop.

• There were systems in place to mitigate safety risks including analysing significant events and safeguarding.

• The practice was aware of and had systems in place to ensure compliance with the requirements of the duty of candour. (The duty of candour is a set of specific legal requirements that providers of services must follow when things go wrong with care and treatment).

• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered in line with current legislation.

• 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. The practice sought patient views about improvements that could be made to the service including having a patient participation group and acted, where possible, on feedback.

Staff told us they felt valued, worked well together as a team and all felt supported to carry out their roles.

There was an outstanding element of practice including:-

• There were daily lunch time meetings for all GPs and nursing staff including the healthcare assistant to discuss patient cases and anything that had occurred during the day. Minutes for these meetings were available to all clinicians.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 3 January 2017

The practice is rated as good for providing services for people with long term conditions. The practice had registers in place for several long term conditions including diabetes and asthma. Longer appointments and home visits were available when needed. All these patients had a structured annual review to check their health and medicines needs were being met.

For those patients with the most complex needs, the GP worked with relevant health and care professionals to deliver a multidisciplinary package of care.

Updated 3 January 2017

The practice is rated as good for providing services for families, children and young people. New baby information packs were sent out to parents of new babies to advise to attend for health checks and vaccinations. The practice regularly liaised with health visitors to review vulnerable children and new mothers.

There were systems in place to identify and follow up children living in disadvantaged circumstances and who were at risk, for example, children and young people who had a high number of A&E attendances.

Updated 3 January 2017

The practice is rated as good for providing services for older people. The practice offered proactive, personalised care to meet the needs of the older people in its population and offered home visits and care home visits.

The practice participated in meetings with other healthcare professionals to discuss any concerns. There was a named GP for the over 75s.  The practice took part in the avoiding unplanned admissions to hospital scheme.

Updated 3 January 2017

The practice is as rated good for providing services for working age people. The needs of this population group had been identified and the practice had adjusted the services it offered to ensure these were accessible. There were online systems available to allow patients to make appointments. There were extended hours appointments available.

Updated 3 January 2017

The practice is rated as good for providing services for people experiencing poor mental health. Patients experiencing poor mental health received an invitation for an annual physical health check. The practice met with the psychiatry team from the local hospital on a quarterly basis to discuss on going care of patients.

The practice was part of a shared care scheme for dementia patients and patients were invited to attend on a six monthly basis for their review. Staff had received dementia awareness training. The practice employed a counsellor.

Updated 3 January 2017

The practice is rated as good for providing services for people whose circumstances make them vulnerable. The practice held a register of patients living in vulnerable circumstances including those with a learning disability. It had carried out annual health checks and longer appointments were available for people with a learning disability.

Staff had completed courses to make them aware of the needs of carers. The practice offered annual drop in sessions in conjunction with a local carers’ organisation. Citizens Advice Bureau attended the practice to help patients with social and financial needs.