- GP practice
Heath Lane Medical Centre
All Inspections
13th April 2016
During a routine inspection
Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Heath lane Medical Centre on 13th April 2016.
Overall the practice is rated as good.
Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:
- Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns and report incidents and near misses. Staff were aware of procedures for safeguarding patients from the risk of abuse.
- There were systems in place to reduce risks to patient safety, for example, infection control procedures and the management of staffing levels. Improvements should be made to the management of blood test results and to the records of staff recruitment and significant events.
- Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance.
- Staff felt well supported. They had access to training and development opportunities and had received training appropriate to their roles.
- Patients generally said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in decisions about their care and treatment. We saw staff treated patients with kindness and respect.
- Services were planned and delivered to take into account the needs of different patient groups.
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Access to the service was monitored to ensure it met the needs of patients.
- 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.
The areas where the provider should make improvements are:
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All blood test results should be reviewed by a clinician with access to the medical record and the training to understand the significance of the result.
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Document reviews of significant events to demonstrate that actions identified have been implemented.
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Ensure that there is a record of the required recruitment information to confirm the suitability of staff employed.
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice
28 May 2014
During a routine inspection
Heath Lane Medical centre provides general medical services from a purpose built health centre conveniently located near a main road and served by a bus route. The health centre is open from 8am to 6:30pm Monday to Friday inclusive and is closed at the weekend.
The practice is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to provide the following regulated activities:-
- Diagnostic and Screening
- Family Planning
- Maternity and midwifery services
- Treatment of disease, disorder and injury
- Surgical Procedures
We spoke with GPs, various staff, patients and the relatives of patients during our inspection. Patients we spoke with and who completed our comment cards told us they were happy with the services they received. We saw the service was provided in premises which were well maintained and clean.
There are systems in place which ensured the safety of patients. They include learning from occurrences, experiences and events and include the safe use of any medicines administered on site. Data demonstrates the service is effective in meeting the wide ranging needs of patients. Systems are in place to monitor the quality of care given to patients. Management control systems, also known as ‘governance’, are in place and included those for the management of clinical risk.
Patients told us they felt actively involved in discussions about their own health care and about the treatment options available to them. We saw patients being spoken to with sensitivity and respect by all staff during the course of the inspection. All staff have access to health care equipment, guidance and training. Staff received adequate information about the patient to support clinical decisions and effectively respond to those in urgent need.
Staff described the service as well led and we saw that the leadership team was very visible. Staff at all levels told us they felt supported and information was routinely shared with them either by email and / or through face to face meetings. We saw records to show that new members of staff were properly inducted and checked for suitability and safety to work in their given role.
The practice works collaboratively with other health and social care agencies. It has a clear vision and set of values which are understood by staff and referenced on the website.
The practice is responsive to patient feedback and has an established a patient participation group (PPG).