11 January 2017
During a routine inspection
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Haydock Medical Centre on the 11 January 2017. Overall the practice is rated as good.
Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:
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Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns and report incidents and near misses.
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There was an open and transparent approach to reporting and recording significant events. Risks to patients were assessed and well managed for example, arrangements to safeguard vulnerable patients, recruitment checks for new staff and keeping medicines safe.
- Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance.
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Feedback from patients about their care was positive. They felt there had been a lot of changes over the last couple of years with staff leaving but they felt that the practice team had become more stable. Patients said they were treated with dignity and respect and they were involved in decisions about their care and treatment.
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The practice sought patient views about improvements that could be made to the service. This included the practice having and regularly consulting with a patient participation group (PPG) and conducting their own in house patient survey.
- Staff had been trained to provide them with the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment. Staff felt well supported in their roles and had undergone a regular appraisal of their work.
- The practice was in need of renovation but they were due to move to a new purpose built building in March 2017.
- The appointments system provided a range of appointments to meet patients’ needs including urgent and on the day appointments. Feedback from some patients was that they had difficulty getting through to the practice by phone and that they sometimes waited too long for a routine appointment. The practice had introduced some changes to their phone system and had an action plan to review improvements to patient satisfaction.
- Complaints had been investigated and responded to in a timely manner.
- The practice had visible clinical leadership and governance arrangements in place.
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Areas where the provider should make improvement:
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Monitor and audit phone lines to help identify peak times and to monitor how they were meeting patient demand.
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To review all results from the national GP patient survey that were lower than local and national averages and monitor actions and feedback responses from patients.
Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice
Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)
Chief Inspector of General Practice