Litherland Practice

Updated 24 December 2021

Litherland Practice is located in Litherland Town at:

Hatton Hill Road,

Litherland,

Liverpool,

L21 9JN

The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening procedures, maternity and midwifery services and treatment of disease and disorder or injury.

The provider has other locations registered with the Commission, which include the out-of-hours service and seven GP practices.

The practice is situated within South Sefton Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and delivers Alternative Provider Medical Services (APMS) to a patient population of 3,750 patients. This is part of a contract held with NHS England.

The practice is part of the Seaforth & Litherland Primary Care Network (a wider network of GP practices).

Information published by Public Health England shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the second lowest decile (two of 10). The lower the decile, the more deprived the practice population is relative to others.

According to the latest available data, the ethnic make-up of the practice area is 98.1% White, 0.9% Mixed, 0.6% Asian, 0.2% Black and 0.2% Other.

The age distribution of the practice population closely mirrors the local and national averages. There are more female patients registered at the practice compared to males.

There is a team of three part time GPs who provide cover at the practice. The practice has a pharmacy team and a practice nurse who provide support to review patients who have long-term conditions. The GPs are supported at the practice by a team of reception/administration staff. The practice manager provides managerial oversight for the day to day running of the practice.

Due to the enhanced infection prevention and control measures put in place since the pandemic and in line with the national guidance, most GP appointments were telephone consultations. If the GP needs to see a patient face-to-face then the patient was seen.

Out of hours services are provided by Primary Care 24. Extended access appointments are provided by the local GP Federation and can be pre-booked at the practice for appointments on weekday evenings 5-8pm, weekends and bank holidays 10am-1pm.

Updated 24 December 2021

We carried out an announced inspection at Litherland Practice on 18 November 2021. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.

Safe - Good

Effective - Good

Caring - Good

Responsive - Good

Well-led - Good

Why we carried out this inspection

This inspection was a comprehensive inspection as we have not inspected this service since it was registered on 8 March 2019.

How we carried out the inspection

Throughout the pandemic CQC has continued to regulate and respond to risk. However, taking into account the circumstances arising as a result of the pandemic, and in order to reduce risk, we have conducted our inspections differently.

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site. This was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements.

This included:

• Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing
• Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system and discussing findings with the provider
• Reviewing patient records to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider
• Requesting evidence from the provider
• A short site visit

Our findings

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

We found that:

• The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• 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 adjusted how it delivered services to meet the needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. There had been limitations with external companies to support the introduction of the new telephone system.
• 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.

Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:

• Continue to review the telephone access arrangements for patients with a view to improving.
• Review safeguarding training for staff in line with Intercollegiate Guidance.
• Review the arrangements for fire safety risk assessment actions completed by the premises building manager.
• Continue to improve the uptake of cervical cancer screening.

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