We carried out a review of the data available to us about Bowland Medical Practice on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Bowland Medical Practice, you can give feedback on this service.
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Bowland Medical Practice on 16 July 2015. The overall rating for the practice was good, with a requires improvement rating for the key question of safe and we issued requirement notices for breaches of Regulation 12 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 (Safe care and treatment) and Regulation 19 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 (Fit and proper persons employed). The full comprehensive report on the July 2015 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Bowland Medical Practice on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
This inspection was a desk-based review carried out on 5 October 2017 to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches identified in the requirement notices.
Overall the practice is now rated as good, with the previous rating of requires improvement for the key question of safe updated to a rating of good.
Our key findings were as follows:
The practice was able to demonstrate that a risk assessment relating to legionella had been completed .
All non-clinical staff who carried out chaperone duties had DBS checks in place, and the practice’s recruitment policy had been updated to reflect this was part of its recruitment procedure (DBS checks identify whether a person has a criminal record or is on an official list of people barred from working in roles where they may have contact with children or adults who may be vulnerable).
Chief Inspector of General Practice
Bowland Medical Practice was inspected on 16 July 2015. This was a comprehensive inspection. This means we reviewed the provider in relation to the five key questions leading to a rating on each on a four point rating scale. We rated the practice as good in respect of being effective, caring, responsive and well-led and requiring improvement in relation to being safe.
Our key findings were as follows:
The practice has systems in place for reporting, recording and monitoring significant events. Significant incidents and events are used as an opportunity for learning and improving the safety of patients, staff and other visitors to the practice.
The practice has systems in place to ensure best practice is followed. This is to ensure that people’s care, treatment and support achieves good outcomes and is based on the best available evidence.
Information we received from patients reflected that practice staff interacted with them in a positive and empathetic way. They told us that they were treated with respect, always in a polite manner and as an individual.
The practice reviewed the needs of its local population and engaged with NHS England and South Manchester Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to secure improvements to services where these were identified. The practice had taken action to address the concerns of some patients in respect of accessing timely appointments at the practice.
We saw areas of outstanding practice:
The practice had designed and introduced a template to ensure patients with a learning disability received regular review and effective care and treatment. This has been so successful it has been adapted by other practices within the South Manchester CCG area. At the time of our visit the practice was in the process of developing a similar template for patients with dementia. These developments demonstrated effective care of chronic diseases and vulnerable people. It also evidenced the practice was proactively sharing learning with colleagues outside the practice.
The practice had achieved the ‘Pride in practice gold award’ to celebrate delivering an excellent service to all patients. Pride in Practice is a quality assurance support service provided by The Lesbian & Gay Foundation to GP practices to support improvements in health outcomes for their lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) patients, as well as strengthen their engagement with, and understanding of LGB people.
However, there were also areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.
Importantly, the provider must:
Take action to ensure the effective operation of systems designed to assess the risk of and to prevent, detect and control the spread of health care associated infection. There was no evidence that a risk assessment had been carried out in respect of the potential risk from legionella contamination. Legionella is a germ found in the environment which can contaminate water systems in buildings.
Improve the system of staff recruitment to ensure that patients are protected by operating effective recruitment and selection procedures that includes ensuring relevant Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks are carried out (and evidenced) when staff are employed or are engaged in a role where such checks are required.
In addition the provider should:
Review and update the complaints procedure to provide complainants with the contact details of the parliamentary and health service ombudsman (PHSO) if they are dissatisfied with the practice’s response to their complaint. Also reference to the Healthcare Commission should be removed from the practice information booklet (suggestions/complaints section) as this organisation no longer exists.
Chief Inspector of General Practice