Archived: Woodside Health Centre

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Woodside Health Centre (also called Country Park Practice) on 15 July 2016. The practice does not have an overall rating at this stage, as the practice has not been operating for a sufficient time for effective, caring and responsive to be rated.

We had previously conducted an announced comprehensive inspection of the practice’s predecessor Woodside Group Practice on 2 September 2015. As a result of our findings during that visit, the practice was rated as good for being safe and caring, requires improvement for being effective and responsive, and inadequate for being well-led. This resulted in a rating of requires improvement overall. We found that the provider had breached a regulation of the Health and Social Care Act 2008; Regulation 17 (1) (2)(a)(b)(e) good governance, and because they had not made sufficient improvements since their last inspection we took the decision to place the practice into Special Measures. The former location of Woodside Group practice was subsequently closed and two new locations (one of which is Woodside Health Centre) were formed under two new partnerships.

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

• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and an effective system in place for reporting and recording significant events.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance. Staff had been trained to provide them with the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
• 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 and easy to understand. Improvements were made to the quality of care as a result of complaints and concerns.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

• Ensure that all staff have received fire safety and information governance training as soon as possible.

• Improving the identification of those patients with caring responsibilities so that the practice can provide appropriate support, signposting and guidance.

I am taking this service out of special measures. This recognises the significant improvements made to the quality of care provided by this service.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice