The Care Quality Commission
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Archived: Oaks Place Surgery

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Oaks Place, Caldwell Road, Widnes, Cheshire, WA8 7GD (0151) 495 5140

Provided and run by:
Oaks Place Surgery

Important: The provider of this service changed. See new profile

All Inspections

20 July 2017

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Oaks Place Surgery on 22 September 2015. The overall rating for the practice was good but required improvement for providing safe services. The full comprehensive report on the 22 September 2015 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Oaks Place Surgery on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This inspection was an announced follow up comprehensive carried out on 20 June 2017 to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches in regulations that we identified in our previous inspection on 22 September 2015. This report includes our findings in relation to those requirements.

Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

  • The practice had addressed the issues identified during the previous inspection 22 September 2015. Improvements had been made in the monitoring and auditing systems for infection control and in facilitating shared learning from incidents and audit work with the whole staff team.
  • There was an open and transparent approach to safety and a system in place for reporting and recording significant events.
  • Staff were aware of current evidence based guidance. Staff had been trained to provide them with the skills and knowledge to deliver effective care and treatment.
  • Information from Care Quality Commission (CQC) comment cards and the national GP patient survey data reviewed indicated that patients were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
  • Information about services and how to complain was available.
  • Urgent appointments were available the same day.
  • 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 practice embraced modern technology to improve monitoring systems for the safety of the practice and communications with patients. The practice was aware of the pressures of patient access and was working as part of a GP Federation in the area to address this issue.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

  • A first aid kit should be available.
  • Implement a system to monitor professional registration and keep reference documents.
  • Update complaints patient information leaflet to make it clearer to patients who they can complain to.
  • Continue to work towards establishing a patient participation group.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

22 September 2015

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Oaks Place Surgery Practice on 22 September 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Please note that when referring to information throughout this report, for example any reference to the Quality and Outcomes Framework data, this relates to the most recent information available to the CQC at the time of inspection.

Our key findings were:

  • Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and to report incidents and near misses. However, opportunities for the practice staff and locum GPs to learn from internal and external incidents were limited.
  • Risks to patients were assessed and managed. However risks related to the monitoring of infection control systems including cleaning schedules were not in place
  • Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff had received training appropriate to their roles.
  • 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.
  • Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and that 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.

However, there were areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

Importantly, the provider must:

  • Take action to put in place monitoring and audit systems, to minimise the risk of cross contamination and spread of infection including those that are health care associated.
  • Put a system in place to ensure learning and actions taken from incidents and audits is shared across the practice and with locum GPs, in order to promote consistent care and treatment.

The provider should:

  • Ensure that the systems used to monitor patient access are robust and use all the available data to enable the practice to effectively plan services.
  • Ensure all staff undertake Mental Capacity 2005 training to enable them to support vulnerable people safely and effectively.
  • Ensure detailed records are held with regard to patients subject to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards to enable clinicians to safeguard patients from inappropriate care and treatment.
  • Ensure there are sufficient chaperones available to support patients and clinicians to access this service.
  • Ensure that the system in place to monitor uncollected prescriptions to ensure vulnerable patients are receiving their medication is adhered to by staff.
  • Ensure that there is a written procedure in place to support reception staff to gain sufficient information from patients seeking a same day appointment.
  • Ensure staff are aware how to use the emergency alarms situated in the clinical rooms and on the computer system.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice