Old Swan Health Centre Group Practice

Updated 30 January 2017

Old Swan Health Centre Group Practice is based in Liverpool. There were 9859 patients on the practice register at the time of our inspection.

The practice is a training practice managed by five GP partners. There is one salaried GP, a registrar and trainee (F2) GP. There are three practice nurses and a health care assistant. Members of clinical staff are supported by a practice manager, reception and administration staff.

The practice is open 8am to 6.30pm every weekday and operates an open access system every morning. The practice offers extended hours appointments on a Monday until 8pm. Patients requiring a GP outside of normal working hours are advised to contact the GP out of hours service, provided by Urgent Care 24 by calling 111.

The practice has a General Medical Services (GMS) contract and has enhanced services contracts which include childhood vaccinations. 

Updated 30 January 2017

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this practice on 30 June 2016. A breach of legal requirements was found. After the comprehensive inspection, the practice wrote to us to say what they would do to meet legal requirements in relation to:

• Regulation 19 HSCA (RA) Regulations 2014 Fit and proper persons employed.

We undertook this focused inspection to check that they had followed their plan and to confirm that they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to those requirements. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Old Swan Health Centre Group Practice on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

The practice is now rated as good for providing safe services and good overall.

Our key findings were as follows:

• The practice had addressed the issues identified during the previous inspection. Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks had been completed for all staff.
• In addition, the practice had purchased a defibrillator; put monitoring systems in place for uncollected prescriptions, the use of prescription pads, expiry dates for the contents of the first aid kit; and now had information available for carers and easy read/large print information for patients.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 15 August 2016

The practice is rated as good for providing services for people with long term conditions.  The practice had registers in place for several long term conditions including diabetes and asthma. Longer appointments and home visits were available when needed. All these patients had a structured annual review to check their health and medicines needs were being met. For those patients with the most complex needs, the GP worked with relevant health and care professionals to deliver a multidisciplinary package of care. 

Updated 15 August 2016

The practice is rated as good for providing services for families, children and young people. The practice regularly liaised with health visitors to review vulnerable children and new mothers. There were systems in place to identify and follow up children living in disadvantaged circumstances and who were at risk, for example, children and young people who had a high number of A&E attendances. There was an open access appointment system for children after school and a children’s area in the waiting room.

Updated 15 August 2016

The practice is rated as good for providing services for older people. The practice offered proactive, personalised care to meet the needs of the older people in its population and offered home visits and care home visits. The practice participated in meetings with other healthcare professionals to discuss any concerns. There was a named GP for the over 75s

Updated 15 August 2016

The practice is as rated good for providing services for working age people. The needs of this population group had been identified and the practice had adjusted the services it offered to ensure these were accessible. There were online systems available to allow patients to make appointments.

Updated 15 August 2016

The practice is rated as good for providing services for people experiencing poor mental health. Patients experiencing poor mental health received an invitation for an annual physical health check. Those that did not attend had alerts placed on their records so they could be reviewed opportunistically.  The practice liaised with local mental health teams to update care plans. Some GPs had an interest in mental health and one GP was the lead for mental health for the local clinical commissioning group (CCG).

Updated 15 August 2016

The practice is rated as good for providing services for people whose circumstances make them vulnerable. The practice held a register of patients living in vulnerable circumstances including those with a learning disability. It had carried out annual health checks and longer appointments were available for patients with a learning disability. Staff had received additional training for communicating with patients with a learning disability. The practice carried out visits for a service for patients with acquired brain injuries.