The Care Quality Commission
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  • GP practice

Ford Medical Practice

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

91 93 Gorsey Lane, Litherland, Liverpool, Merseyside, L21 0DF (0151) 949 2000

Provided and run by:
Ford Medical Practice

All Inspections

6 July 2023

During a monthly review of our data

We carried out a review of the data available to us about Ford Medical Practice on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.

This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.

If you have concerns about Ford Medical Practice, you can give feedback on this service.

During an assessment under our new approach

Ford Medical Practice is a NHS GP practice which provides primary care services to patients in the Sefton area of Merseyside. We carried out an announced assessment of one quality statement, equity of access, under the key question Responsive at Ford Medical Practice on the 20 February 2024. We carried out the assessment as part of our work to understand how practices are working to try to meet peoples demands for access and to better understand the experiences of people who use services and providers. We recognise the work that GP practices have been engaged in to continue to provide safe, quality care to the people they serve. We know staff are carrying this out whilst the demand for general practice remains exceptionally high, with more appointments being provided than ever. However, in this challenging context, access to general practice remains a concern for people. Our strategy makes a commitment to deliver regulation driven by people’s needs and experiences of care. The assessment of the quality statement equity of access includes looking at what practices are doing innovatively to improve patient access to primary care and sharing this information to drive improvement. Overall, the practice is rated as good and the key question responsive continues to be rated as providing a good service. We found that the practice had organised services to meet patients’ needs, including those who were most likely to have difficulty accessing care. The practice used feedback and other information to monitor and improve access. We saw evidence of audit undertaken and changes implemented.

5 March 2020

During a routine inspection

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Ford Medical Practice on 5 March 2020 as part of our inspection programme.

At this inspection we followed up on breaches of regulations identified at a previous inspection on 10 January 2019.

This inspection looked at the following key questions:

Safe

Effective

Caring

Responsive

Well-led

At the last inspection in January 2019 we rated the practice as requires improvement for providing safe and well-led services because:

  • Systems and processes for checking on areas of practice were not sufficiently robust. This included in areas such as safeguarding, staff training, staff recruitment practices, the provision of minor surgery, the management of health and safety, the management of patient safety alerts and security of prescriptions.
  • Governance systems were not fully effective in monitoring the service, managing risks and driving improvement.

At this inspection we found that the provider had satisfactorily addressed the above areas.

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 population groups.

We found that:

  • The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
  • Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
  • Staff dealt with patients with respect.
  • The practice organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs.
  • The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of good quality care.

Whilst we found no breaches of regulation, the provider should:

  • Review the arrangements for checking patients referred for tests under the urgent rule have attended their appointment.
  • Continue to encourage patients to uptake cancer screening.
  • Carry out a risk assessment to support the decision as to the emergency medicines held.
  • Ensure prescriptions are secured appropriately outside of opening hours.
  • Continue to encourage uptake of patients to form a Patient Participation Group.

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.

10 January 2019

During a routine inspection

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Ford Medical Practice on 10 January 2019 as part of our inspection programme.

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 requires improvement overall. We rated the practice as requires improvement for the population group families, children and young people and good for the remaining population groups.

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

  • The practice did not have appropriate systems and processes in place for safeguarding children.
  • A number of health and safety related checks were not being followed as required.
  • Staff recruitment and selection practices were not always sufficiently robust.
  • There was no system to ensure histology results were received for patients following minor surgery.

We rated the practice as requires improvement for providing well-led services because:

  • The overall governance arrangements were not fully effective.
  • We saw little evidence of systems and processes for checking on areas of practice such as safeguarding, staff training, the provision of minor surgery, the management of safety alerts, security of prescriptions and staff recruitment practices.

We rated the practice as good for providing effective services because:

  • There were patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
  • The practice organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs.

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

  • Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.

We rated the practice as good for providing responsive services because:

  • The practice organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs.
  • Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.

The areas where the provider must make improvements as they are in breach of regulations are:

  • Ensure care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients.
  • Ensure patients are protected from abuse and improper treatment.
  • Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.
  • Ensure persons employed in the provision of the regulated activity receive the appropriate support, training and professional development, necessary to enable them to carry out their duties.

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

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

  • Develop a programme of clinical audit including audits linked to the provision of minor surgery.
  • Ensure staff training records are kept up to date and that an oversight of staff training is maintained at provider level.
  • Ensure the process for making a complaint is well publicised for patients and that all complaints are managed within the provider’s policy and procedure.
  • Ensure an appropriate system is in place for the management and control of hand written prescription forms in line with national guidance.
  • Provide reception staff with information and guidance specific to the symptoms of sepsis.
  • Review the system in place for managing patient safety alerts to evidence that appropriate action is taken in response to all relevant alerts.
  • Introduce a system to audit how consent to treatment is gained.
  • The practice should engage with a representative sample of the patient population through the formation of a Patient Participtation Group (PPG).

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

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGPChief Inspector of General Practice.

11 November 2014

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

This is the report from our inspection of Ford Medical Practice. Ford Medical Practice is registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide primary care services.

We undertook a planned, comprehensive inspection on the 11 November 2014 at Ford Medical Practice. We reviewed information we held about the services and spoke with patients, GPs, and staff.

The practice was rated as Good overall.

Our key findings were as follows:

  • There were systems in place to mitigate safety risks. The premises were clean and tidy. Systems were in place to ensure medication including vaccines were appropriately stored and in date.
  • Patients had their needs assessed in line with current guidance and the practice promoted health education to empower patients to live healthier lives.
  • Feedback from patients and observations throughout our inspection highlighted the staff were kind, caring and helpful.
  • The practice was responsive and acted on patient complaints and feedback.
  • The practice was well led. The staff worked well together as a team and had regular staff meetings and training.

We saw an area of outstanding practice:

The practice was responsive to the needs of older and vulnerable people. The practice offered an enhanced service by offering health checks carried out by the health care assistant or a practice nurse in the community for patients living independently and in residential and nursing homes. This was to promote good health and to monitor chronic and acute conditions. A review of this service indicated that unplanned admissions to hospitals had been reduced.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice