The Care Quality Commission
  • Doctor
  • GP practice

Abingdon Family Health Care Centre

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

361-365, Queens Drive, Walton, Liverpool, L4 8SJ (0151) 317 8540

Provided and run by:
Abingdon Family Health Care Centre

Important: The provider of this service changed - see old profile

All Inspections

During an assessment under our new approach

Abingdon Family Health Care Centre is a NHS GP practice which provides primary care services to patients in Liverpool. We carried out an announced assessment of one quality statement, equity of access, under the key question Responsive at Abingdon Family Health Care Centre on 6 March 2024. The practice is rated as good overall and continues to be rated as good for providing a responsive service. We carried out the assessment as part of our work to understand how practices are working to try to meet people’s demand for access and to better understand the experiences of people who use services and providers. We recognise the pressure that practices are currently working under, and the efforts staff are making to maintain levels of access for their patients. At the same time, our strategy makes a commitment to deliver regulation driven by people’s needs and experiences of care. The assessment of the quality statement ‘Equity in access’ includes looking at what practices are doing innovatively to improve patient access to primary care and sharing this information to drive improvement. We found that the practice had organised services to be responsive to patients’ needs, including those who were most likely to have difficulty accessing care. However, the provider outlined challenges they have experienced with the phone system and the impact this has had for patients contacting the practice by phone and their experience of making an appointment. During the assessment process the provider highlighted the efforts they were making to improve the responsiveness of the service for their patient population, this included providing the majority of appointments on the day of request. However, there was insufficient evidence to demonstrate that efforts made to date had improved patient experience in this area.

12 December 2019

During a routine inspection

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Abingdon Family Health Centre on 12 December 2019 as part of our inspection programme. This was the practice first inspection since their new registration in November 2018.

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

  • what we found when we inspected
  • information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services and
  • information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.

We have rated this practice as good overall and good for all population groups.

We found that:

  • The practice had clear systems, practices and processes to keep people safe and safeguarded from abuse.
  • Patients’ needs were assessed, and care and treatment was delivered in line with current legislation, standards and evidence-based guidance supported by clear pathways and tools.
  • The practice had a comprehensive programme of quality improvement activity and routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care provided.
  • Staff had the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care, support and treatment.
  • The practice identified patients who may need extra support and directed them to relevant services. Staff worked together and with other organisations to deliver effective care and treatment.
  • Staff treated patients with kindness, respect and compassion. Feedback from patients was extremely positive about the way staff treated people.
  • The practice understood the needs of its local population and had developed services in response to those needs.
  • Leaders demonstrated that they understood the challenges to quality and sustainability.
  • The practice had a culture which drove high quality sustainable care.
  • There were clear responsibilities, roles and systems of accountability to support good governance and management.
  • The practice had a proactive Patient Participation Group (PPG) and this was well supported by the leadership team.
  • There were clear and effective processes for managing risks, issues and performance.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are as follows. The provider should:

  • Continue to review and monitor the data that falls below the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and national averages.

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