Victoria Park Health Centre

Background to this inspection

Updated 30 October 2017

Victoria Park Health Centre is a three partner practice which provides primary care services to approximately 20,333 patients under a General Medical Services (GMS) contract.

The practice is situated adjacent to the University of Leicester campus in a purpose built health centre.
Services are provided from 203 Victoria Park Road, Leicester, LE2 1XD.
The practice has a high proportion of young patients, primarily students with a high number of patients who are overseas students.
Parking is available on street or at a nearby pay and display car park.
There is ramped access for disabled patients. The practice is on two levels and a lift is available for those that require to use it.
The reception desk is accessible to patients in a wheelchair.
The practice consists of three GP partners (female) ten salaried GP’s (female) and two GP’s employed by the GP fellowship scheme (one male and one female).
The nursing team consists of four practice nurses, two health care assistants (HCA’s) and one phlebotomist.
The practice has an executive manager and a practice manager who is supported by reception team leaders and a team of clerical and administrative staff to support the day to day running of the practice. The practice also has apprentices employed at the practice in administrative roles.
When the practice is closed patients are able to use the NHS 111 out of hours service.
The practice is registered to provide the following regulated activities; surgical procedures; family planning, diagnostic and screening procedures, treatment of disease, disorder or injury and maternity and midwifery services.
The practice lies within the NHS Leicester City Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). A CCG is an organisation that brings together local GPs and experienced health professionals to take on commissioning responsibilities for local health services.
The practice is open between 8.30am and 6pm Monday to Friday. Appointments are available between these times.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 30 October 2017

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Victoria Park Health Centre on 28 November 2016. The overall rating for the practice was requires improvement. The full comprehensive report on the November 2016 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Victoria Park Health Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This inspection was an announced focused inspection carried out on 18 August 2017 to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches in regulations that we identified in our previous inspection on 28 November 2016. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements and also additional improvements made since our last inspection.

Overall the practice is now rated as Good.

Our key findings were as follows:

There was an open and transparent approach to safety and a system in place for reporting and recording significant events.
Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand. Improvements were made to the quality of care as a result of complaints and concerns.
Safety alerts and alerts from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) were reviewed and cascaded to the appropriate persons. We saw evidence that alerts received were disseminated to relevant members of staff and actioned where required to do so.
The practice maintained appropriate standards of cleanliness and hygiene. Regular IPC audits were undertaken and we saw evidence that action was taken to address any improvements identified as a result. The practice ensured that a deputy IPC lead was in place.
We reviewed personnel files and found appropriate recruitment checks had been undertaken prior to employment. For example, proof of identification, evidence of satisfactory conduct in previous employments in the form of references, qualifications, registration with the appropriate professional body and the appropriate checks through the DBS.
The practice’s computer system alerted GPs if a patient was also a carer. The practice had identified 66 patients as carers which represented less than 1% of the practice list. However, as the practice was a university health centre, the practice had a high population of young patients, primarily students which included overseas students. The practice told us this had contributed to the low number of patients identified as carers compared to the patient list size.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

Continue to review the process and methods for the identification of carers.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP)

Chief Inspector of General Practice