Archived: The Crossroads Surgery

Updated 7 January 2022

The Crossroads Practice is located in St Helens at:

449 Warrington Road

Rainhill

Merseyside

L35 4LL

The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening procedures, maternity and midwifery services and treatment of disease, disorder or injury and surgical procedures.

The practice is situated within St Helens Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and delivers General Medical Services (GMS) to a patient population of 2,614 as of 1 December 2021. This is part of a contract held with NHS England.

The practice is part of South St Helens Primary Care Network (a wider network of GP practices).

Information published by Public Health England shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the sixth decile (6 of 10). The lower the decile, the more deprived the practice population is relative to others.

According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the practice area is 96.3% white, 2.3% Asian, 0.2% Black, 0.9% Mixed, and 0.2% Other.

The age distribution of the practice population has more older people and less younger people than the local and national averages. There are more female patients registered at the practice compared to males.

There is a team of GPs who provide cover at both practices. The practice has a practice nurse who provide nurse led clinics for long-term conditions. The GPs are supported at the practice by a team of reception/administration staff, a practice manager and an office manager.

Due to the enhanced infection prevention and control measures put in place since the pandemic and in line with the national guidance, most GP appointments were telephone consultations. If the GP needs to see a patient face-to-face then the patient was seen.

Extended access appointments are pre-booked through the practice for evening and weekend appointments. Extended access and out of hours services are provided by St Helens Rota.

Updated 7 January 2022

We carried out an announced inspection at The Crossroads Surgery on 6, 7 and 15 December 2021. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.

Safe - Good

Effective - Good

Caring - Good

Responsive - Good

Well-led - Good

Why we carried out this inspection

This inspection was a comprehensive inspection following the new partnership registration August 2020.

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:

• Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing
• Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system and discussing findings with the provider
• 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 have rated this practice as Good overall

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.
• The practice adjusted how it delivered services to meet the needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. 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.

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

• Review safeguarding training for staff in line with intercollegiate guidance.
• Review the process for stock levels and expiry dates for medicines.
• Continue to improve processes for medication review documentation.
• Continue to improve the system for recording and acting on safety alerts.
• Continue to improve the uptake of cervical cancer screening.

Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care