Fylde Private GP

This service 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

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Fylde Private GP on 21 July 2023. We carried out this inspection in line with our inspection priorities, to rate this service. This was the first inspection of this independent GP service.

At the time of our inspection, Fylde Private GP did not have a registered manager, however the practice manager had applied to become the registered manager and CQC approved their application whilst this report was being prepared. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are 'registered persons'. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Our key findings were:

• The service had a focus on providing safe and effective continuity of care for patients.
• There was clear oversight and management of risk to patients.
• The service did not verify patient identification on registration.
• GPs could make urgent referrals directly to NHS secondary care for diagnostic testing and had systems in place to verify that patients were offered appointments.
• The service had some monitoring of clinical care in place, but recognised this was an area they could improve upon.
• The service used technology to improve clinical care and support healthy lifestyles.
• Patient feedback about the service was highly positive.
• At present the service offered limited evening and no weekend appointments.
• The staff had responded to care for people in the town centre on a number of occasions.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Develop and embed comprehensive consultation and clinical audit processes.
• Undertake a review of demand for evening and weekend appointments to identify capacity to meet that demand.
• Implement a patient identification policy and process.
• Introduce effective systems for supporting clinical and non-clinical leaders.

Dr Sean O'Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Healthcare