Gloucester Health Access Centre

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Gloucester Health Access Centre on 26 July 2023. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.

Safe - good

Effective - good

Caring - good

Responsive - good

Well-led - good

During the inspection process, the practice highlighted efforts they are making to improve outcomes for their population. The effect of these efforts is not (yet) reflected in verified outcomes data. As such, the ratings for this inspection have not been impacted. However, we continue to monitor the data and where we see potential changes, we will follow these up with the practice.

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

Why we carried out this inspection

We carried out this inspection in line with our inspection priorities. This is the first inspection for this location.

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.
• 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 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.
• 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.
• Staff felt well supported by the management team.

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

• Implement and audit processes to ensure all staff have immunisations in line with national guidance.
• Embed newly implemented processes to support safe care and treatment, for example antimicrobial optimisation and medicines monitoring.
• Take steps to improve cervical screening uptake.
• Take steps to improve access and ensure more patient feel involved in their care.
• Implement the plan to introduce a patient participation group (PPG)

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