The Care Quality Commission
  • Doctor
  • GP practice

New Longton Surgery

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

2 Churchside, New Longton, Preston, Lancashire, PR4 4LU (01772) 280800

Provided and run by:
Dr Linda Jane Whitworth

All Inspections

During an assessment under our new approach

Date of Assessment: 28 July 2026. New Longton Surgery is a GP practice and delivers services to approximately 2098 people under a contract held with NHS England. According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the service area is approximately 96.5% White, 1.3% Asian, 1.5% Mixed, 0.4% Black and 0.3% Other. Information published by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities shows deprivation within the service population group is in the 10 decile (10 of 10). The lower the decile, the more deprived the service population is relative to others.

This was a focused assessment. We undertook this assessment due to the length of time since our last assessment. We assessed 10 quality statements from across all 5 key questions. This assessment considered the demographics of the people using the service, the context the service was working within and how this impacted service delivery. Where relevant, further commentary is provided in the quality statements section of this report.

SAFE Staff kept facilities clean and maintained equipment appropriately to ensure people were kept safe. They assessed and managed the risk of infection well and took steps to control the risk of it spreading. There were enough staff with the right skills, qualifications and experience.

EFFECTIVE Staff supported people to live healthier lives, monitoring their care and treatment to ensure they received positive and consistent outcomes.

CARING Staff treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion, and respected their privacy and dignity.

RESPONSIVE People could access care, treatment and support when they needed it. Leaders and staff were alert to discrimination and inequality that could disadvantage groups of people who used the service and sought ways to address any barriers.

WELL-LED The service had a clear vision and strategy, which considered the needs of the people who used their service and the wider community. Staff understood their individual roles and responsibilities. Leaders accounted for the actions, behaviours and performance of staff through clear and effective governance processes.

07 October 2020

During an inspection looking at part of the service

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at New Longton Surgery on 11 February 2020 as part of our inspection programme. We rated the practice as requires improvement for providing safe services, outstanding for the provision of caring services and good for all other key questions and overall.

The full comprehensive report on the February 2020 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for New Longton Surgery on our website at .

At our inspection in February 2020 we rated the practice as requires improvement for providing safe services because:

  • There were gaps in safety systems and processes; staff files were not always held securely, some premises and staff risk assessments were lacking and there was a lack of processes to assure safe staffing. Monitoring of loose computer prescription paper and some medicines was in need of improvement.

We also indicated additional improvements should be made as follows:

  • Record an action plan to support the improvements undertaken form infection prevention and control audits.
  • Introduce an ongoing formal GP audit of items removed from the post by non-clinical staff without sight of a GP.

We were mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what type of inspection was necessary and proportionate. This was therefore a desk-based review. On 7 October 2020 we commenced the desk-based review to confirm the practice had carried out its plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breach of regulations that we identified in the February 2020 inspection. We also looked at progress made against the areas identified in our previous inspection where the practice should make improvements (but were not breaches of regulation). We have found the practice is now meeting those requirements and we have amended the rating for the practice accordingly. The practice is now rated as good for providing safe services.

We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service on a combination of:

  • What we found when we reviewed the information sent to us by the provider
  • Information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services and
  • Information from the provider.

We have rated this practice as good for providing safe services because:

  • There was a process in place to ensure staff files were checked to be complete and were held securely. A confidential health questionnaire had been introduced for new staff.
  • Premises fire risk procedures had been tightened and completed.
  • There was a new premises electrical safety certificate in place, the legionella risk assessment had been renewed and water testing was current. (Legionella is a term for a particular bacterium which can contaminate water systems in buildings.)
  • The new online practice governance software had been used to make a full record of staff training, immunisation status and membership of professional bodies.
  • Loose computer prescription paper was monitored appropriately and checks on medicines held by the practice were comprehensive.
  • There was a detailed action plan recorded following a recent audit of infection prevention and control arrangements.
  • A new monthly process had been introduced to ensure GP audit of items of post removed by non-clinical staff without sight of a GP.

Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care

11 February 2020

During a routine inspection

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at New Longton Surgery on 11 February 2020. The service had been inspected previously under a different provider. The new provider was registered in January 2018 and this was the first inspection of this service under the new registration.

We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service on a combination of:

  • what we found when we inspected
  • information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services and
  • information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.

We have rated this practice as good overall and good for all the population groups.

We rated the practice as good for providing effective, responsive and well-led services because:

  • Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
  • The practice organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs. Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
  • The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centred care.

We rated the practice as outstanding for providing caring services because:

  • Feedback from patients was consistently positive and was higher than local and national averages. Patients told us care exceeded their expectations.
  • There was a strong person-centred culture. Staff told us they were motivated to provide best possible care.
  • Staff knew patients well and were sensitive to their needs. They went out of their way to offer care and support.

We also rated the practice as requires improvement for providing safe services because:

  • There were gaps in safety systems and processes.

The areas where the provider must make improvements are:

  • Ensure that care and treatment is provided in a safe way.

(Please see the specific details on action required at the end of this report).

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

  • Record an action plan to support the improvements undertaken form infection prevention and control audits.
  • Introduce an ongoing formal GP audit of items removed from the post by non-clinical staff without sight of a GP.

Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care