Eccleston Medical Centre

Updated 5 October 2023

Eccleston Medical Centre is located in St Helens at:

4 Millfields Court
Eccleston
St. Helens
WA10 5RG

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

The practice is situated within the NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care System (ICS) and delivers Personal Medical Services (PMS) to a patient population of about 5,610. This is part of a contract held with NHS England.

The practice is part of a wider network of GP practices and is part of the St Helens South Primary Care Network.

Information published by Office for Health Improvement and Disparities shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the seventh lowest decile (seven 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 98.5% white, 0.7% Asian, 0.5% Mixed, 0.1% Black, 0.1% Other.

There are a higher number of young people registered at the practice compared to the national average and a lower number of older and working aged people.

There is a team of four GPs and one advanced nurse practitioner (ANP) who work part-time. A pharmacist. Two part-time practice nurses and a trainee nurse associate. The team are supported at the practice by a practice manager and a team of reception/administration staff. Additional staff are employed by the PCN and regularly work at the practice. This includes pharmacists, a first contact practitioner, social prescriber and a mental health nurse. The practice is also a training practice for GP registrars.

The practice is open between 8 am to 6.30 pm Monday to Friday. The practice offers a range of appointment types including book on the day, telephone consultations and advance appointments.

Extended access is provided locally by the PCN and St Helens Rota where late evening and weekend appointments are available. Out of hours services are provided by St Helens Rota.

Updated 5 October 2023

We carried out an announced focused inspection at Eccleston Medical Centre on 5 September 2023. Overall, the practice is rated as good.

Safe – good

Effective - not inspected, rating of good carried forward from previous inspection.

Caring - not inspected, rating of good carried forward from previous inspection.

Responsive - not inspected, rating of good carried forward from previous inspection.

Well-led - not inspected, rating of good carried forward from previous inspection.

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Eccleston Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection

We carried out this inspection to follow up on:

• A breach of regulation from a previous inspection on 26, 27, 28 and 29 July 2022.

• The areas identified where the provider should make improvements from the inspection on 26, 27, 28 and 29 July 2022.

How we carried out the inspection

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site.

This included:

• Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing.
• Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system (this was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements).
• Reviewing patient records to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider.
• Requesting evidence from the provider.

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 found that:

• Action had been taken to address the breach of regulation. Improvements had been made to the systems for medication reviews and for monitoring of patients health before repeat medications were prescribed.

The provider had also made improvements to the service as recommended in the ‘shoulds’ from the last inspection report.

• Staf had completed equality and diversity training.

• Improvements had been made to the systems in place to encourage patients to attend for childhood immunisations and cervical screening. However, one of the childhood immunisations and cervical screening rates remained below the recommended target rates.

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

• Continue to take steps to ensure reviews of patients’ medication and health checks take place at the required frequencies.

• Continue to monitor childhood immunisation and cervical screening uptake.

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

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Health Care