The Care Quality Commission
  • Doctor
  • GP practice

Bunbury Medical Practice

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Vicarage Lane, Bunbury, Tarporley, Cheshire, CW6 9PE (01829) 260218

Provided and run by:
Bunbury Medical Practice

All Inspections

During an assessment under our new approach

Date of Assessment: 1 July 2026. Bunbury Medical Practice is a GP practice and delivers services to approximately 5463 people under a contract held with NHS England. According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the service area is approximately 97.7% White, 0.6% Asian, 1.1% Mixed, 0.3% Black and 0.2% Other. Information published by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities shows deprivation within the service population group is in the 8th decile (8 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.
Staff kept facilities clean and maintained equipment appropriately to ensure people were kept safe. They assessed and managed the risk of infection and took steps to control the risk of it spreading. There were enough staff with the right skills, qualifications and experience. The service had processes in place to assess and manage risks; however, these were not always effective in identifying and mitigating all risks.
Staff supported people to live healthier lives, monitoring their care and treatment to ensure they received positive and consistent outcomes.
Staff treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion, and respected their privacy and dignity. The service had a listening culture and were responsive to feedback.
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.
Staff understood their individual roles and responsibilities. Leaders accounted for the actions, behaviours and performance of staff through clear and effective governance processes. The service had a clear vision and strategy, which considered the needs of the people who used their service and the wider community.
 

4 April 2017

During an inspection looking at part of the service

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of Bunbury Medical Practice on 11 October 2016. The overall rating for the practice was requires improvement. The full comprehensive report on the October 2016 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Bunbury Medical Practice on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This inspection was an announced focused inspection carried out on 4 April 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 11 October 2016. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements and also additional improvements made since our last inspection.

Overall the practice is now rated as good.

Our key findings were as follows:

  • The premises were safely maintained.

  • The governance systems had been improved to ensure that clear records were maintained of the training provided to staff, effective systems were in place for the management of significant events and for ensuring reports were provided for child safeguarding meetings.

In addition, the practice had made the following improvements:

  • The system for ensuring alerts were placed on computer records to indicate any concerns about patient welfare had been reviewed.

  • A system had been put in place to record the receipt and allocation of printable prescriptions.

  • A system had been put in place to identify the medication held in GP bags and to record that it had been checked and was in date.

  • The induction records had been revised and were more comprehensive reflecting the detail of the information provided.

  • All staff who acted as chaperones now received a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

  • The staff recruitment procedure had been revised to ensure that all the required recruitment information was obtained.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

11 October 2016

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Bunbury medical Practice on 11 October 2016.

Overall the practice is rated as requires improvement.

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

  • There were systems in place to reduce risks to patient safety, for example, infection control procedures and the management of staffing levels. Improvements were needed to ensure safety checks at the premises took place. We also identified improvements that should be made to improve the safety of the service.
  • Staff understood their responsibilities to raise concerns and report incidents and near misses. Changes had been made to the management of significant events as a result of this inspection and these need to be reviewed to ensure they are effective.
  • Staff spoken with knew how to identify and report safeguarding concerns. Improvements were needed to the system for recording safeguarding alerts as this process lacked consistency. The system for ensuring GPs provided reports for child safeguarding meetings needed to be reviewed as we identified a response had not been made to a request.
  • Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance.
  • Staff told us they felt well supported. The records of staff training did not demonstrate that all staff had received the training they required for their roles.
  • Patients were positive about the care and treatment they received from the practice. The National Patient Survey July 2016 showed that patients’ responses about whether they were treated with respect, compassion and involved in decisions about their care and treatment were comparable to local and national averages.
  • Services were planned and delivered to take into account the needs of different patient groups.

  • The National GP Patient Survey results showed that patient’s satisfaction with access to care and treatment was above or in line with local and national averages.

  • Information about how to complain was available. There was a system in place to manage complaints.
  • There were systems in place to monitor and improve quality and identify risk.

However there were areas of practice where the provider must make improvements:

  • The provider must ensure the premises are safely maintained.

  • The provider must improve their governance systems to ensure that clear records are maintained of the training staff have undertaken and effective systems are in place for the management of significant events and ensuring reports are provided for child safeguarding meetings.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

  • The system for ensuring alerts are placed on computer records to indicate any concerns about patients’ welfare should be improved.

  • Maintain a complete record of which clinician pre-printed prescriptions have been allocated to.

  • A system should be put in place to identify the medication to be held in GPs bags and to record that it has been checked and is available and in date.

  • The induction records should be more comprehensive to reflect the detail of the information provided.
  • A documented risk assessment should be put in place to demonstrate why a Disclosure and Barring (DBS) check is not required for staff who act as chaperones.
  • Staff recruitment records should contain two references and evidence of information having been gathered about any physical or mental conditions which were relevant (after reasonable adjustments) to the role the person was being employed to undertake.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

14 November 2013

During a routine inspection

We spoke to three patients who all told us that they were happy with the care that they received from the Bunbury Medical Practice. One person said; "I've been a patient here for 20 years and have always had an excellent service." Another person said; "The doctors are very good. I can't find fault with anything."

We spoke to a doctor, the practice manager, and a practice nurse about the safeguarding procedures and policies in place at the practice. All the staff had received training in safeguarding and were able to describe the action they would take if they had any concerns about a patient.

We looked around the purpose built practice and found it to be suitable for use. It was very clean and well maintained. We looked at the maintenance records for the building and saw that regular checks were made to ensure that safety and security was maintained.

We looked at the procedures for recruitment of new staff and we saw that all the appropriate checks had not been made to ensure that staff were suitable to work at the practice.