• Doctor
  • GP practice

Benchill Medical Practice

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

171 Brownley Road, Manchester, Lancashire, M22 9UH (0161) 493 9101

Provided and run by:
Benchill 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 Benchill 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 Benchill Medical Practice, you can give feedback on this service.

24 April 2017

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Benchill Medical Practice on 2 July 2015.

At the inspection in July 2015 the overall rating for the practice was good, although the key question Safe was rated requires improvement. This was specifically in relation to staff recruitment and arrangements for staff acting as chaperone. We found that none of the three staff files we looked at contained any written references. Not all non-clinical staff eligible to carry out chaperoning duties had undergone a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

The full comprehensive report on the July 2015 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Benchill Medical Practice on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This inspection was a desk-based review carried out on the 24 April 2017 to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the one breach in regulation that we identified in our previous inspection on 2 July 2015. This report covers our findings in relation to that requirement. We also requested information for this desk top review about any progress the practice may have undertaken in responding to the areas we identified previously where the provider should take action.

Overall the practice is rated as good

Our key findings were as follows:

At our previous inspection in July 2015 we found that;

  • Not all non-clinical staff eligible to carry out chaperoning duties had undergone a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. No risk assessment had been conducted to assess the chaperoning responsibilities and activities of non-clinical staff to determine if they were eligible for a DBS check and to what level.
  • The three staff files we looked at contained any written references.
  • The provider should develop clinical audit further to enhance their existing systems to improve patient care and outcomes.
  • Records of significant events should detail what actions had been taken and how any improvements identified/made were monitored to ensure they were sustained.

We requested information for this desk top review about any progress the practice may have undertaken in responding to the areas we identified previously where the provider should take action. At this review we saw evidence that:

  • The practice were able to demonstrate how they had improved systems to ensure lessons were learned from significant events and complaints received.
  • The practice told us what action they had taken to improve and develop the clinical audit system to improve patient care.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP

Chief Inspector of General Practice

2 July 2015

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

Benchill Medical Practice was inspected on 2 July 2015. This was a comprehensive inspection. This means we reviewed the provider in relation to the five key questions leading to a rating on each on a four point rating scale. We rated the practice as good in respect of being effective, caring, responsive and well-led and requiring improvement in relation to being safe.

Our key findings were as follows:

The practice has systems in place for reporting, recording and monitoring significant events. Significant incidents and events are used as an opportunity for learning and improving the safety of patients, staff and other visitors to the practice.

The practice has systems in place to ensure best practice is followed. This is to ensure that people’s care, treatment and support achieves good outcomes and is based on the best available evidence.

Information we received from patients reflected that practice staff interacted with them in a positive and empathetic way. They told us that they were treated with respect, always in a polite manner and as an individual.

The practice reviewed the needs of its local population and engaged with NHS England and South Manchester Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to secure improvements to services where these were identified. The practice had taken action to address the concerns of some patients in respect of accessing timely appointments at the practice.

However, there were also areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

Importantly, the provider must:

Improve the system of staff recruitment to ensure that patients are protected by operating effective recruitment and selection procedures that includes obtaining the required information and ensuring relevant checks are carried out (and evidenced) when staff are employed or are engaged in a role where such checks are required.

In addition the provider should:

We looked at records relating to how the practice team learnt from incidents and subsequently improved safety standards. The examples we looked at showed how incidents were investigated by defining the issue clearly and identifying what actions needed to be taken to address the risk and minimise or prevent it from happening again. However records lacked detail of what actions had been taken and how any improvements identified/made were monitored to ensure they were sustained. The provider should take action to review and improve these records.

Clinical audits were instigated from within the practice or as part of the practice’s engagement with local audits. However the completion of these audits was more focused on the individual professional development of clinicians and the provider should develop clinical audit further to enhance their existing systems to improve patient care and outcomes.

The complaints record detailed the nature of the complaint, the outcome of the investigation and how this was communicated to the person making the complaint. However to maximise learning from complaints and identify any developing trends in complaints received the provider should record a summary of all complaints received that can be reviewed regularly and discussed at practice meetings.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice