Bilston Health Centre

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Bilston Health Centre on 16th – 18th October 2023. Overall, the practice is rated as good.

Safe - good

Effective - good

Caring - good

Responsive - good

Well-led - good

Following our previous inspection in August 2016 the practice was rated good overall and for all key questions.

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Bilston Health Centre, on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection

We carried out this inspection in line with our inspection priorities.

Outline focus of inspection to include:

• Key questions inspected.

How we carried out the inspection/review

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site.

This included:

• Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing.
• Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system (this was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements).
• Reviewing patient records to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider.
• Requesting evidence from the provider.
• A short site visit.

Our findings

We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service on a combination of:

• what we found when we inspected
• information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services and
• information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.

We found that:

• The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
• The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.

However:

• The management of patients prescribed high risk medicines which required monitoring was not always completed in line with national guidance.
• Patient notes were not always coded appropriately.
• The practice uptake rate for cervical screening for eligible patients was slightly under the national minimum requirement.
• The practice uptake rate for the percentage of children aged 5 who have received immunisation for measles, mumps and rubella is below the world health organisation target.
• Long term conditions Health checks did not always have sufficient notes added within the clinical system.

Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:

Do not use ensure or review, be directive and specific – for example: take steps, take action, improve, implement:

• The practice should take steps to ensure medication which is taken weekly has a specific date on the prescription.
• The practice should take action to ensure coding is appropriate.
• The practice should take action to increase the percentage of children aged five years had received immunisation for measles, mumps and rubella to the world health organisation target of 95%.
• The practice should take steps to increase the uptake rate of cervical screening for eligible patients.

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 Health Care