Withington Medical Practice

Updated 11 June 2018

Al Shifa Medical Centre, 4-6 Copson Street Withington Manchester Greater Manchester M20 3HE is one of the 97 practices within the NHS Manchester Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). Services are provided under a general medical service (GMS) contract with NHS England. The practice has 2,766 patients on their register (1,622 male, 1,144 female). The practice is located on a quiet side road and has dedicated parking facilities at the rear of the premises; some parking is available on nearby residential streets. The practice is housed in an older building that has some restrictions for people with mobility problems, all treatment rooms are on the ground floor where there are no mobility issues.

Information published by Public Health England rates the level of deprivation within the practice population group as three on a scale of one to ten. Level one represents the highest levels of deprivation and level ten the lowest. The patient numbers in the older age group were almost 50% lower than the England average. For example 15.4% of the patient population was over 65 and the average England value was 27.1%. The practice population had fewer children and young people registered with it than the England average 36.1% compared with 38.4% nationally. 35% of the patient list were from black and ethnic minority groups.

The practice's main opening times are Monday to Friday 8.30am to 6.00pm, on call answering between 8.00am and 8.30am, 12.30pm to 2.00pm and 6.00pm to 6.30pm when clinicians can be contacted via a mobile telephone. The practice closes for lunch between 12.30 and 2pm. Extended hours were offered from 6.30pm to 8.00pm every Monday evening. Patients requiring a GP outside of normal working hours are advised to contact the out of hour's service provided by ”GoToDoc”.

The practice has two GP partners one male and one female. The practice employs two long term locum GPs, a practice manager, a practice nurses, receptionists and secretaries and a cleaner. The practice regularly supports undergraduate medical students.

The practice provides online patient access that allows patients to book appointments, order prescriptions and review some of their personal records.

Updated 11 June 2018

This practice is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspection 1 December 2015 – Good)

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? - Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Al Shifa Surgery on 9 May 2018. This inspection was carried out under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. The inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

At this inspection we found:

• The practice had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the practice learned from them and improved their processes.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.
• Safety systems were comprehensive and actions were taken to prevent incidents and risks to patients. We noted that portable acceptance testing and fire risk assessments required updating and some recruitment information was not present.
• The practice routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines, however we noted some patient notes had not been fully coded.
• Clinicians had access to appropriate information to deliver safe care and treatment.
• Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• Patients found the appointment system easy to use and reported they were able to access care when they needed it. Patient feedback on the care and treatment delivered by all staff was overwhelmingly positive.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation

We saw one areas of outstanding practice:

• The practice operated a “safe surgery” principle in partnership with “Doctors of the world”. This aimed to offer healthcare and treatment to anyone regardless of their immigration status, race, gender, sexuality or other characteristic. Staff had received training on specific barriers faced by vulnerable groups and how to mitigate these barriers and provided access to care for patients who otherwise may have been fearful.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Document recruitment information more fully.
• Improve process for comprehensively coding patient notes.
• Improve processes for ensuring portable appliance testing and fire risk assessments are completed in a timely manner.
• Improve the system/process for monitoring higher risk medicines.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP
Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 11 June 2018

Updated 11 June 2018

Updated 11 June 2018

Updated 11 June 2018

Updated 11 June 2018

Updated 11 June 2018