The Health Centre Surgery

Updated 25 September 2020

The Health Centre Surgery is located in The Halewood Centre in Halewood, Liverpool.

This inspection was to follow-up on areas of concerns from the previous inspection.

The provider is Dr Maria Del Carmen Simo-Garcia who is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening procedures, maternity and midwifery services, surgical procedures and treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

The Health Centre Surgery is situated within the NHS Knowsley Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and provides services to 5,060 patients under the terms of a general medical services (GMS) contract. This is a contract between general practices and NHS England for delivering services to the local community.

The provider is a GP who works at the practice. There are also two salaried GPs and a practice nurse. Regular locum GPs are used to cover clinical staffing shortfalls. The clinical team is supported by a practice manager, reception and administrative staff.

A self-employed pharmacist was also working at the practice. The practice provided training to fourth year medical students.

The National General Practice Profile states that 96% of the practice population is from a white background. Information published by Public Health England, rates the level of deprivation within the practice population group as three, on a scale of one to ten. Level one represents the highest levels of deprivation and level ten the lowest. Male life expectancy is 79 years compared to the national average of 79 years. Female life expectancy is 83 years compared to the national average of 83 years. The majority of patients are within the aged 15 – 64 age group.

Updated 25 September 2020

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The Health Centre Surgery on 17 July 2019 as part of our inspection programme. The overall rating for the practice was good, however the practice was rated as requires improvement for providing safe services. The full comprehensive report on the July 2019 inspection can be found by selecting the all report's link for The Health Centre Surgery on our website.

This inspection was carried out as a desk based focused inspection on 25 August 2020 to confirm that the practice had carried out their plans to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breach in regulations that we identified at in our previous inspection on the 17 July 2019.

Overall the practice is now rated as Good.

Our key findings were as follows:

• The practice had revised their recruitment policy for non-medical and medical staff and locum staff to ensure all the required checks were completed for new recruits.
• The practice had reviewed the information available for staff already employed and updated information such as risk-assessments and Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks.
• The practice had developed a spreadsheet to assist with monitoring training and re-registration needs.

The provider had also acted on the recommendations made at the last inspection. This included:

• Written policies and procedures for monitoring the care of patients with long care conditions had been put in place. The practice monitored these areas more closely and submitted unverified evidence indicating improvements in outcomes since the July 2019.
• The practice had put in place processes to identify vulnerable children and adults registered at the practice. Registers had been introduced to highlight and monitor vulnerable patients. Alert flags had been added to patient records. This meant staff were aware when vulnerable adults and children visited or contacted the practice or information about them was received. In respect of vulnerable children alerts had also been added to relevant family members and members of the immediate household.
• The practice had strengthened processes for tracking urgent referrals and information indicated the action taken ensured patients were seen within the expected timescale.
• The practice had introduced formal role-specific induction, supervision, mentoring and training programs for medical, clinical and administration staff.
• The practice had provided on-line training in the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLs).
• The practice had updated their website to include information for carers and patients.

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

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care

Updated 25 September 2020

Updated 25 September 2020

Updated 25 September 2020

Updated 25 September 2020

Updated 25 September 2020

Updated 25 September 2020