Archived: Bridgewater Medical Centre Also known as Bridgewater Hub

Updated 13 November 2019

Wigan GP Alliance LLP provides the Extended Hours’ requirements for the entire Borough of Wigan, which currently has 327,000 registered patients. They operate out of seven locations within the Borough of Wigan. The service headquarters is located at Cherry Croft Court, Rear of 47a Wigan Lane, Wigan, WN1 2JE.

There are three federations in existence within the Borough of Wigan representing 62 of the 64 Practices. These Federations worked together and created Wigan GP Alliance LLP on 14 April 2016.

Wigan GP Alliance LLP vision is to provide the best care possible, to all registered patients of the borough, at a day and time suitable for the patient, in a location as close to home as possible, whilst also supporting practices. It allows residents of the borough the opportunity to seek medical treatment at a time that is convenient to them, without needing to seek time away from work. It provides pre-bookable routine appointments during the evenings and weekends including Bank Holidays when most of Wigan GP Practices are closed.

Appointments can be booked through the Alliances internal telephony service which operates between the hours of 8am to 8pm. A weekend and mid-week cervical screening service is available to patients.

The service operates using either advanced nurse practitioners or GPs to offer patient appointments, and weekend surgeries are staffed by a team of GPs, advanced nurse practitioners, practice nurses and healthcare assistants. Receptionists offer support to these surgeries during their operation. A team of service coordinators are on call during core opening hours and they offer a range of support and guidance to the onsite teams.

Bridgewater Medical Centre is located in Leigh. The practice is a member of Wigan Borough Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

Bridgewater Medical Centre is one location the Alliance operates the extended hours service for the Alliance. The practice opens between the hours of Monday to Friday 18:30 – 20:00.

The practice is situated, and the inspection was conducted at Bridgewater Medical Centre, Leigh. There are three other GP practices also located in this building and some facilities, such as the minor operations treatment room, which are shared.

This is a purpose built GP Surgery with disabled access. There are parking facilities, including disabled spaces, and it is easily accessible by local transport links.

Wigan GP Alliance is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to provide the regulated activities from the location of Bridgewater Medical practice, of diagnostic and screening procedures, surgical procedures, transport services, triage and medical advice provided remotely and treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

Regulated activities are delivered to the patient population from the following address:

Bridgewater Medical Centre

Henry Street

Leigh

WN7 2PE

The practice has a website that contains information about what they do to support their patient population: .

The service does not accommodate walk-in patients or attend home visits.

Updated 13 November 2019

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 Bridgewater Medical Centre on 24 September 2019. The inspection was carried out as part of or inspection programme.

At this inspection we found:

• The service had effective systems to ensure staff had a consistent approach to the service delivery.
• Communication was taking place and the service co-ordinators were spoken very highly of by all staff the inspection team spoke to. We were told how they were always at hand to resolve any problem, they had great communication skills and the teams felt supported.
• The service had good systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When they did happen, the service learned from them and improved their processes.
• The service routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.
• There were three folders which contained a wealth of information to support all staff, with step by step guidance and printed help sheets. These contained all the information to ensure the service would run smoothly.
• There was a comprehensive quality assurance system in place around policies and procedures, with all staff having access to the systems onsite.
• Patients were able to access care and treatment from the service within an appropriate timescale for their needs.
• A clear system was in place for patients accessing appointments, with a chance to be added to a cancellation list.
• Staff involved and treated people with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care