SMC Great Lever

Updated 22 September 2023

SMC Great Lever is located in Bolton at:

Great Lever Health Centre

Rupert Street

Great Lever

Bolton

BL3 6RN

The practice has a branch surgery at:

Lever Chambers Centre For Health

Ashburner Street

Bolton

BL1 1SQ

The practice is situated within the Greater Manchester Integrated Care System (ICS) and delivers General Medical Services (GMS) to a patient population of about 3666. This is part of a contract held with NHS England.

The practice is part of a wider group of GP practices called Bolton Central Primary Care Network (PCN). PCNs work together with community, mental health, social care, pharmacy, hospital and voluntary services in their local area.

Information published by Public Health England shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the lowest decile (one 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 61.3% White, 31.4% Asian, 3.5% Black and the rest are mixed and other ethnicities.

The age distribution of the practice population closely mirrors the local and national averages.

There is a team of 4 GP partners and 2 regular locum GPs. The practice has a team of 3 nurses who provide nurse led clinics for long-term conditions at both the main and the branch locations, an advanced nurse practitioner and health care assistant. The clinical team are supported at the practice by a team of reception/administration staff. The practice manager and assistant practice manager spend time at the main and branch locations to provide managerial oversight.

The practice is open between 8am to 7pm Monday and 8am to 6.30pm Tuesday 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 Bolton GP Federation, where late evening and weekend appointments are available. Out of hours services are provided by Bury and Rochdale Doctors on Call (BARDOC).

Updated 22 September 2023

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at SMC Great Lever on 14 July 2023. 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 was a comprehensive inspection undertaken as part of our comprehensive inspection programme because the previous provider had retired and this provider registered to take over the practice.

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.
• Since taking over the practice the provider had introduced a new set of policies and procedures tailored to the practice.

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

• Continue to improve uptake for childhood immunisations .
• Continue to improve uptake for cervical cytology cancer screening .
• Make patients aware of risks when prescribing teratogenic medicines .
• Ensure medication reviews always contain full review information in the clinical record .

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