Westleigh Surgery

Updated 26 October 2021

Westleigh Surgery, also known as Health first ALW CIC (Ashton Leigh Wigan Community Interest Company), is based in Wigan Borough, Manchester. They are registered for the regulated activities of treatment of disease, disorder or injury and diagnostic and screening procedures.

The inspection took place at their offices at:

Health first ALW CIC (ALW CIC)

429 Warrington Road

Abram

Wigan

WN2 5XB

Health First ALW CIC is limited by guarantee that it is a 'not for profit' company, this means that it does not operate for private profit. Any profit generated is used to grow and develop its business which is benefiting an identified community or goes directly to benefit that community.

At the start of the pandemic health checks provided by the provider were suspended as instructed by Public Health Wigan. They resumed in August 2021. There has been a Public Health contract in place for the past seven years.

The provider offers,on behalf of local Primary Care Networks (PCN), NHS health checks and screening for the diagnosis and prevention of disease. This also includes training for staff within the local PCNs to undertake health checks. It includes an initial and update training programme scheduled throughout the year. They also provide pharmacists to undertake medication reviews and audits in care and nursing homes on behalf of the PCN.

The service is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, in respect of some, but not all of the services it provides. There are some exemptions from regulation by CQC which relate to particular types of service, and these are set out in Schedule 2 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

At Health First ALW CIC, some services are provided to customers under arrangements made by their employer, a government department or insurance company with whom the service user holds a policy. These type of arrangements are exempt by law from CQC regulation. Therefore, during our inspection we were only able to evaluate the services which are not arranged for customers by any of the above mentioned agencies.

They work with Public Health, Wigan, to deliver Flu and COVID-19 vaccinations, and have delivered training to practice staff in support of this. They also provide health screening in the workplace which are non-NHS and are paid for by the companies themselves which are out of the scope of our inspection. These services include flu vaccination and non-eligible NHS Health checks.

The information for patients can be accessed via the website (https://healthfirstalw.co.uk)

The provider is currently in the process of changing their Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered manager and we saw evidence that this is in progress. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the CQC to manage the service. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations about how the service is run.

How we inspected this service

Before the inspection we gathered and reviewed information from the provider. During the onsite inspection we spoke with members of staff including Directors and the management team.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we always ask the following five questions:

• Is it safe?
• Is it effective?
• Is it caring?
• Is it responsive to people’s needs?
• Is it well-led?

These questions therefore formed the framework for the areas we looked at during the inspection.

Updated 26 October 2021

This service is rated as Good overall.

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 18 October 2021.

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 inspection at Westleigh Surgery on 18 October 2021. This inspection was part of the CQC inspection programme to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

The provider offers NHS Health checks and screening for the diagnosis and prevention of disease for NHS providers and for private companies. They also work with Public Health Wigan, to deliver Flu and COVID-19 Vaccinations.

Our key findings were:

• The provider had good systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When they did happen, the provider learned from them and improved their processes.
• Patient identity checks were in place including higher level checking where the provider determined this was necessary.
• The provider reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence-based guidelines.
• All patient data was encrypted and securely stored.
• Staff involved and treated people with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect. Feedback reviewed highlighted high levels of satisfaction.
• Patients could access care and treatment from the provider within an appropriate timescale for their needs.
• Information about the provider and how to raise concerns was available.
• There was a strong focus on innovation, continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.

We saw the following outstanding practice:

• Westleigh Surgery bank staff worked with a number of practice nurses at various sites throughout Wigan Borough, including nursing homes, to deliver the COVID-19 vaccination. They were commissioned by the local Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to manage and deliver training for this. This has supported, developed and increased the vaccinator workforce by enabling practice staff to continue their work in practice. This supported the timely delivery of the COVID-19 vaccination across the Wigan Borough footprint.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care