We carried out a review of the data available to us about Altrincham 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 Altrincham Medical Practice, you can give feedback on this service.
We carried out an announced inspection and site visit at Altrincham Medical Practice on 17 November 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.
Safe - Good
Effective - Good
Caring - Good (rating awarded at the inspection 10 December 2015)
Responsive – Good (rating awarded at the inspection 10 December 2015)
Well-led - Good
The practice was also rated Good at our previous inspection on 10 December 2015 and outstanding for the well led key question. At this inspection, we found that those areas previously regarded as outstanding practice were now embedded throughout the majority of GP practices. While the provider had maintained this good practice, the threshold to achieve an outstanding rating had not been reached.
The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Altrincham Medical Practice on our website at www.cqc.org.uk
Why we carried out this inspection
We undertook this inspection as part of a selection of services rated good and outstanding who have not been inspected for five years or more.
How we carried out the inspection
Throughout the pandemic CQC has continued to regulate and respond to risk. However, taking into account the circumstances arising as a result of the pandemic, and in order to reduce risk, we have conducted our inspections differently.
This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site. This was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements.
This included
Our findings
We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service on a combination of:
We have rated this practice as Good overall.
We found that:
Whilst we found no breaches of regulations. However the provider should:
Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.
Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA
Chief Inspector of Hospitals and Interim Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Altrincham Medical Practice on 10th December 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.
Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:
The provider should :
Introduce a system so that patients are routinely advised about the Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) if they are unhappy with their received response.In addition, learningfrom complaints should be more widely disseminated and discussed to ensure that all staff are aware when things go wrong.
Check that patient records are documented when patients are offered, but refuse the services of a chaperone.
We saw areas of outstanding practice:
The practice undertook a continuous audit process throughout the year which involved all members of staff and was not restricted to clinical audit. The findings from those audits were used to make changes, improve services anddevelop staff into roles which were better equipped to meet patients needs and provide positive outcomes.
The practice regularly gathered feedback from patients through patient satisfaction forms which were handed out by all the clinicians at various intervals. A member of staff was responsible for collating the feedback and reporting positive and negative comments back to the practice manager, which was then addressed with each clinician where necessary.
There was a high level of constructive engagement with staff and a high level of staff satisfaction. Staff roles and responsibilities were altered and enhanced to meet the demands of patients’s needs. Training and reward was provided to support staff in those role changes.