The Care Quality Commission
  • Doctor
  • Independent doctor

The Walcote Practice

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Southgate Chambers, 37-39 Southgate Street, Winchester, Hampshire, SO23 9EH (01962) 828715

Provided and run by:
Walcote Health Ltd

All Inspections

6 July 2023

During a monthly review of our data

We carried out a review of the data available to us about The Walcote Practice on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.

This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.

If you have concerns about The Walcote Practice, you can give feedback on this service.

24 November 2021

During a routine inspection

This service is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspection October 2019, rated Good)

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 inspection at The Walcote Practice as part of our inspection programme.

The Walcote Practice provides private GP services to self-funded and privately insured patients who are also registered with an NHS GP. Services include, but are not limited to; wellness screening and health checks, sexual health checks and diagnosis and treatment of long term conditions. The service also provides minor surgery, the fitting of contraceptive implants, mother and baby checks, joint injections, COVID-19 PCR testing, travel services and vaccines.

The service has a registered manager. 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 continued to provide good quality care that was patient focused and met patients’ changing needs.
  • It had addressed suggestions made at the previous inspection.
  • The service made improvements following incidents and complaints, and demonstrated an effective governance framework.
  • It has invested in additional services during the COVID-19 pandemic to support patients who might be vulnerable.
  • The provider had implemented safe systems for infection prevention and control as well as safeguarding vulnerable adults and children.
  • The provider had maintained an audit programme during the COVID-19 pandemic and monitored prescribing and patient feedback.
  • The Walcote Practice provided staff with access to a suite of online training and required staff to keep up to date with role-specific courses.
  • Patient satisfaction was high and the website was clear and informative.

We saw the following outstanding practice:

  • The Walcote Practice quickly responded to the COVID-19 pandemic to support patient safety. As well as adapting to offer remote services, it continued to offer face to face appointments and home visits. It invested in pulse oximeters (to measure oxygen levels in blood) and gave these to patients who might be at risk of hospitalisation from COVID-19 and set up systems for patients to share their daily oxygen levels. They also provided oxygen concentrators to help patients stay safe in their own homes for as long as possible.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care

16 Oct 2019

During a routine inspection

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The Walcote Practice on 16 October 2019 as part of our inspection programme and to follow up on breaches of regulations.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspected this service on 7 September 2018 and asked the service to make improvements regarding:

  • Formal staff training relating to safeguarding adults and children.
  • Systems and processes for checking patient identity and confirming parental authority of children who use the service.
  • Systems and processes relating to the checking of emergency medicines and equipment.

We checked these areas as part of this comprehensive inspection and found these issues to have been resolved.

The Walcote Practice provides private GP services to self-funded and privately insured patients who are also registered with an NHS GP. Services include but are not limited to wellness screening and health checks, sexual health checks, and diagnosis and treatment of long-term conditions. The service also provides minor surgery, the fitting of contraceptive implants, joint injections, travel services and vaccines, and mother and baby checks.

The service has a registered manager. 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.

We received 39 CQC comment cards from patients about the service. All were positive regarding the service.

Our key findings were:

  • The service had addressed the shortfalls identified at its previous CQC inspection and had made improvements to its systems and processes appropriately in relation to checking emergency medicines and equipment, oversight of safety alerts and checking the identity of patients and parental authority of those that brought children to the service.
  • The service offered a range of health services with a GP, immunisations for children and travel purposes, corporate and individual healthcare.
  • The service had recruited new and experienced staff since our previous inspection to support the increasing demand it was experiencing as the service continued to grow.
  • The service understood the needs of patients and were proactive to ensure the service was accessible.
  • Staff completed expected training either by online training or through in-house refresher training sessions. All staff had received formal safeguarding training appropriate to their role following our previous inspection.
  • The provider made extensive use of patient feedback as a measure to monitor and improve services.
  • The website for the service was very clear and it contained appropriate information regarding treatments available and fees payable.

We saw the following outstanding practice:

  • Through the use of longer appointments, the service had since it began, issued approximately 1,422 immunisations to patients who had previously refused or not received immunisations relating to the NHS immunisation schedule. This ensured more patients, especially children, had achieved better immunity from serious diseases, not previously achieved via the NHS.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

  • Continue to receive and review national guidance to ensure all staff are trained to appropriate levels, particularly in relation to safeguarding.
  • Continue to share learning from significant events and complaints with employed and contracted staff as relevant.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care

7 September 2018

During a routine inspection

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 7 September 2018 to ask the service the following key questions; Are services safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led?

Our findings were:

Are services safe?

We found that this service was not providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services effective?

We found that this service was providing effective care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services caring?

We found that this service was providing caring services in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services responsive?

We found that this service was providing responsive care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services well-led?

We found that this service was not providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

The Walcote Practice provides private GP services to self-funded and privately insured patients who are also registered with an NHS GP. Services include, but are not limited to; wellness screening and health checks, sexual health checks, and diagnosis and treatment of acute, chronic, and long term conditions. The service also provides minor surgery, the fitting of contraceptive implants, joint injections, travel services and vaccines, and mother and baby checks.

The lead GP is the registered manager. 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.

A total of 39 patients provided feedback about the service which was all positive regarding the caring attitude of staff. Patients commented that the service was professional, friendly and thorough and they would recommend the service to others.

Our key findings were:

  • Patient records were stored electronically and were encrypted to ensure they were safe and secure and adhered to data protection legislation.
  • Patients who used the service had an initial consultation where a detailed medical history was taken. Patients who used the service were able to access detailed information regarding the services offered and delivered by the provider.
  • The service understood the needs of patients and were proactive to ensure the service was accessible.
  • The service won the ‘patient service 2018 whatclinic’ award for its provision of customer care.
  • Staff had been provided with in house mandatory training however, not all staff had received safeguarding training to the appropriate level.
  • The service had a system to identify patients who were also carers. Those patients received priority booking for consultations or home visits.
  • The provider made extensive use of patient feedback as a measure to monitor and improve services.
  • The website for the service was very clear and easily understood. In addition, it contained valuable information regarding treatments available and fees payable.
  • The practice offered a range of health checks with a GP.
  • There were shortfalls in some recording of checks of emergency medicines and equipment, checking identity and actions following safety alerts.

We identified regulations that were not being met and the provider must:

  • Ensure patients are protected from abuse and improper treatment.
  • Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.

You can see full details of the regulations not being met at the end of this report.