Archived: Medicare Lostock Hall

Updated 17 August 2018

Medicare Lostock Hall, also known as Medicare Unit Surgery, is based in a two-storey house situated in the centre of the Lostock Hall area of Preston at 1 Croston Road, Lostock Hall, Preston, PR5 5RS. The practice website can be accessed at www.medicareunit.co.uk. The building has been utilised as a GP surgery for over 100 years. Patient facilities are mainly situated on the ground floor and there is one treatment room on the first floor which is used occasionally for minor surgery. The practice provides level access for patients into the building. It has a small car park for patients and staff and there is also a public car park across the road. Public transport is available nearby.

The practice is part of the Chorley and South Ribble Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and services are provided under a General Medical Services (GMS) contract. Out of hours services are accessed locally by dialling 111 and are provided by GoToDoc operating out of Chorley Hospital.

There is one male sessional GP and one practice nurse, a practice manager who also acts as a medicines co-ordinator and three administrative and reception staff who support the practice. The practice is also supported by a team of GPs, clinicians, managers and other administrative staff who work at three other practices operated by the same provider.

The practice provides services to approximately 2,560 patients. There are higher numbers of patients aged over 40 years of age (58%) than the national average (49%) and 53% of practice patients are male.

Information published by Public Health England rates the level of deprivation within the practice population group as eight on a scale of one to ten. Level one represents the highest levels of deprivation and level ten the lowest.

The practice has a lower proportion of patients experiencing a long-standing health condition than average practices (47% compared to the national average of 54%). The proportion of patients who are in paid work or full time education is higher (71%) than the national average of 62% and unemployment figures are lower, 2% compared to the national average of 5%.

The service provider changed in December 2017 although staffing at the practice generally remained unchanged and the practice has continued to offer services to existing and new patients. There are three other local practices operated by the same provider and patients are able to access some services and appointments at these other practices. The practice provides family planning, maternity and midwifery services, treatment of disease, disorder or injury and diagnostic and screening procedures as their regulated activities.

Updated 17 August 2018

This practice is rated as Good overall.

(Medicare Lostock Hall is a new registered practice and this is the first inspection of the service under this provider.)

The key questions at this inspection 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 Medicare Lostock Hall on 10 July 2018. This inspection was carried out under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. The inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

At this inspection we found:

• The practice had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the practice learned from them and improved their processes. Learning was shared with other local practices.
• The practice routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence-based guidelines.
• Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• Patients found the appointment system easy to use and reported that they were able to access care when they needed it.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.
• Governance systems and processes in the practice were comprehensive and effective.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Develop a protocol for managing communications coming into the practice, including GP audit of the process.
• Continue to develop a patient participation group.
• Document the practice procedure for managing patient uncollected prescriptions.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP
Chief Inspector of General Practice

Please refer to the detailed report and the evidence tables for further information.

Updated 17 August 2018

Updated 17 August 2018

Updated 17 August 2018

Updated 17 August 2018

Updated 17 August 2018

Updated 17 August 2018