All inspections: Fir Tree Medical Centre

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Fir Tree Medical Centre on 15 February 2019 as part of our inspection programme.

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

We have rated this practice as good overall but requires improvement for providing safe services and good for all population groups.

We rated the practice as requires improvement for providing safe services because:

Medicines management required improvement. For example, the practice had some medicines for use in medical emergencies but not all that are currently recommended. There was no risk assessment to outline how the practice would manage certain medical emergencies such as diabetic patients with very low sugar levels or patients with epilepsy, without the medicines currently recommended. Improvements were also required around the management of uncollected prescriptions, and storage of blank prescriptions.

The practice did not have a defibrillator but could access one in a nearby building. There was no risk assessment in place to demonstrate how the practice would manage in a medical emergency.

Recruitment procedures did not include risk assessments for the rationale why some staff did not have a Disclosure and Barring Services (DBS) check.

There was no formal Legionella risk assessment and the fixed electrical wiring safety certificate was 16 months out of date.

We rated the practice as good for providing effective, caring, responsive and a well led service because:

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 organised and delivered services to meet patients’ needs. 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 provider must:

The provider should:

Carry out a risk assessment for how the practice would manage a medical emergency without a defibrillator on the premises.
Implement a practice policy to manage uncollected prescriptions particularly for vulnerable patients.
Carry out a risk assessment for staff who are employed without a DBS check.
Review the storage arrangements of blank prescriptions.
Implement a system to record safety and medicine alerts received, the action taken and record ongoing monitoring.

Since the inspection, the provider advised us that the necessary improvements outlined in our report had been or was in progress of being actioned.

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

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGPChief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Fir Tree Medical Centre on 4 February 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

The practice was clean and tidy and had good facilities including disabled access, car parking and access to translation services.

There were systems in place to mitigate safety risks including analysing significant events and safeguarding.
Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered in line with current legislation.

Comments and survey information reviewed suggested patients were treated with compassion, dignity and respect.
The practice sought patient views about improvements that could be made to the service; including carrying out surveys and acted, where possible, on feedback.
One of the GPs was a clinical lead for four practices in the neighbourhood area. The practice participated in several pilot schemes to improve patient outcomes for their own practice and within the area.

However, the areas where the provider should make improvements are:

Have documented risk assessments in place for Legionella and how the practice deals with a medical emergency without a defibrillator.

For clinicians to improve their understanding of current legislation regarding consent and deprivation of liberty safeguards (DoLS).

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Archived: Fir Tree Medical Centre