The Care Quality Commission
  • Doctor
  • GP practice

Archived: Garston and West Speke Health Centre

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

32 Church Road, Garston, Liverpool, Merseyside, L19 2LW (0151) 295 9030

Provided and run by:
SSP Health Ltd

Important: The provider of this service changed. See new profile
Important: This service was previously managed by a different provider - see old profile

All Inspections

22 October 2015

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

This is the report from our announced comprehensive inspection of Garston and West Speke Health Centre. The service operates from two sites; one in Garston, 32 Church Road Liverpool L19 2LW and one in Blackstock Hall Road, Speke, Liverpool L24 3TY. We inspected both sites on the 22 October 2015. Where information in the report refers to the practice, this refers to both sites unless otherwise specified.

We previously undertook a focused inspection at the Garston site only in February 2015 in response to an issue of concern. We issued two Requirement Notices as a result of our findings and requested an action plan.

Overall the practice is rated good.

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

  • The provider had met the Requirement Notices and made improvements in quality assurance processes.
  • A Local Medical Director had been recently appointed to oversee the clinical governance of the practice and was proactively encouraging the use of clinical audits to ensure patients received treatment in line with best practice standards.
  • The practice had good facilities including disabled access and translation services and three of the GPs spoke other languages.
  • There were systems in place to mitigate safety risks including analysing significant events and safeguarding.
  • The practice was clean and tidy.
  • The practice used a pharmacy advisor to ensure the practice was prescribing in line with current guidelines.
  • 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 (PPG) and acted on feedback.
  • Staff worked well together as a team and all felt supported to carry out their roles.

However the provider should consider improving the service by:-

  • Reconsider the risk assessment for the need for a defibrillator at the branch surgery.
  • Review the storage of emergency drugs at the branch practice to allow easy access.
  • Have a systematic approach to whether the practice implements best practice guidance and record the rationale if the guidance is not followed.
  • Revisit the register of patients with learning disabilities to ensure that all care plans are updated.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

16 February 2015

During an inspection looking at part of the service

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

This is the report from our inspection of Garston and West Speke Health Centre. Garston and West Speke Health Centre is registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide primary care services and is managed by the provider SSP Health Ltd.

We undertook an unannounced focused inspection on the 16 February 2015 at Garston and West Speke Health Centre in response to concerns we had received regarding recruitment. This report only contains information around specific safety aspects of recruitment at the practice. We reviewed information we held about the service and spoke with two regional managers, a GP and staff.

Our key findings were as follows:

  • The practice had recruitment processes in place but identification checks for new staff entering the building were not always taking place.
  • The practice had an induction system in place for new locum GPs and the lead GP carried out some induction and supervision. However there were no formal arrangements and the practice manager was not fully aware of the induction processes in place.
  • Policies and procedures around recruitment and induction in place were not always being fully implemented.

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

Importantly, the provider must:

  • Notify us of any significant incident as outlined in Regulation 18 of the Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009.
  • Ensure all staff understand and follow the policies and protocols in place which are designed to identify, assess and manage risks for the service.

In addition the provider should:

  • Carry out risk assessments for those staff working with patients who have not received a disclosure and barring service check (DBS).
  • Ensure references are taken up from the most recent employer and if not ensure they have recorded the reason why not obtained.
  • Ensure more effective mechanisms are in place for induction and supervision of GP locums.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice