Archived: Christopher Home

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.

Christopher Homes is located in the Royal Albert and Edward Infirmary and is from 6.30pm until 10pm, Monday to Friday, and 8am until 8pm during the weekends and bank holidays.

The practice is based in the Primary Care building within the hospital, which provides multiple local services including the Out of Hours service and a vascular clinic. The building complies with the requirements for the Disability Discrimination Act. There is free parking available up to 45 minutes and disable parking spaces.

Wigan GP Alliance is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to provide the regulated activities at Christopher Homes is registered, 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:

Christopher Home

Royal Albert and Edward Infirmary

Wigan Lane

Wigan

WN1 2NN

The practice has a website that contains information about what they do to support their patient population: http://www.wigangpalliance.org .

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 Christopher Home (Hospital) on 26 September 2019. The inspection was carried out as part of or inspection programme. The service is an extended hrs GP service and is part of a network of alliance locations which offer extended GP cover across Wigan.

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