- GP practice
Fir Tree Medical Centre
Report from 29 January 2025 assessment
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of Assessment: 4 and 5 March 2025. Fir Tree Medical Centre is a GP practice which provides a range of primary medical services from its location at 103 Fir Tree Drive South, Liverpool, L12 0JE.We last undertook a Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection at the service on 25 January 2023 and the service was rated as requires improvement overall. At this assessment the rating has changed to good. We assessed all 34 quality statements across all 5 key questions: safe, effective, caring, responsive, and well-led. This assessment considered the demographics of the people using the service, the context the service was working within and how this impacted service delivery.
We found the service had a positive learning culture where lessons were learnt from individual complaints and incidents. Medicines were managed and stored safely. There was a system for recording and acting on safety alerts, however, the service was unable to demonstrate that all relevant safety alerts had been acted upon. Safeguarding matters were discussed. There were appropriate staffing levels and skill mix to ensure safe and effective staffing. Appropriate monitoring and reviews were in place for people with long term conditions, however, our review of patients that may have had a potential missed diagnosis of diabetes, showed a sample of patients had not been followed up appropriately.
There were systems to ensure staff were up to date with relevant legislation, evidence-based practice and required standards. Information was shared between teams and services to ensure continuity of care. Leaders were capable, compassionate and inclusive. Staff and leaders acted with openness, honesty and transparency.
People's experience of this service
The service made sure people were at the centre of their care and treatment choices and they decided, in partnership with people, how to respond to any relevant changes in people’s needs. Patients had access to appointments provided by a range of a multi-skilled clinicians including GPs, nurse practitioner, clinical pharmacist and pharmacist technician, practice nurses and a healthcare assistant.
Feedback from patients within the national GP survey showed they felt their overall experience had reduced since the last survey. Indicators suggested it was difficult to contact the practice on the telephone. Confidence and trust in the healthcare professional they saw or spoke to had slightly reduced since the last survey, along with people who reported they were involved in decisions about their care and treatment. Information was available at the service and online so that people knew how to give feedback about their experiences of care and support, including how to raise any concern or issues. Learning from complaints and concerns was seen as an opportunity for improvement, and staff could give examples of how they incorporated learning into daily practice.The service monitored patient views via the NHS Friends and Family Test and online feedback. The CQC received patient feedback via the link provided by the practice leaders for their patients to give feedback on care. The majority of this was positive feedback.
There was an active patient participation group (PPG) who represented the views of people using the service and we met with a member during the assessment. We were told meetings were held quarterly, were attended by the management team and relationships between the group and the service were very good. Members felt listened to and could make suggestions for improvements which would be acted upon.