Archived: Willow Bank Partnership Community Interest Company Also known as Willow Bank Health Centre

Updated 6 July 2017

Willow Bank Partnership Community Interest Company operates a General Practice from Meir Primary Care Centre in Stoke on Trent. The company is owned by the staff with a board of Directors and holds an Alternative Medical Provider Services contract with NHS England. Willow Bank operates two GP practices within Stoke on Trent:

• Willow Bank Health Centre, Longton.

• Willow Bank Surgery, based within Meir Primary Care Centre.

Patients can use either site and are recorded as having a preferred practice. Each practice is currently registered with the Care Quality Commission separately. We visited both practices as part of our inspection. This report relates to our findings at Willow Bank Surgery, based within Meir Primary Care Centre. The provider has very recently submitted an application to remove the Willow Bank Health Centre registration and operate the practice as a branch location under the Willow Bank Surgery registration.

There are a total of 10,750 patients registered of which 4,075 give their preferred practice as Willow Bank Health Centre in Longton, although patients can be seen at either location. The practice population is not similar to the national average as it contains more patients aged 39 and under and less patients aged 50 and over. Deprivation in the locality is higher than both the clinical commissioning group (CCG) and national averages.

The opening hours at Willow Bank Health Centre, Longton are:

• Monday, Wednesday and Friday 8am to 6pm.

• Tuesday 8am to 12.30pm and 2pm to 6pm.

• Thursday 8am to 5pm.

Patients can access Willow Bank Surgery, based within Meir Primary Care Centre where the opening hours are:

• Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm.

• Saturday 8am to 4pm.

• Sunday 10am to 2pm.

Staff work across both sites and include:

• Staff work across both sites and include:

• Nine GPs (six female, three male)

• Seven female registered nurses of which five work in extended and/or independent prescribing roles.

• Three female healthcare assistants.

• One practice clinical pharmacist.

• A management administrative and reception team of 22 staff led by the managing director assisted by a customer services manager.

Updated 6 July 2017

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We previously carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Willow Bank Partnership Community Interest Company (also known as Willow Bank Health Centre) on 4 August 2016. The overall rating for the practice was Good with requires improvement in providing safe services. The full comprehensive report from the 4 August 2016 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Willow Bank Partnerships Interest Company (Willow Bank Health Centre) on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This inspection was an announced focused inspection carried out on 21 June 2017 to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breach in regulation that we identified in our previous inspection on 4 August 2016. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements and also additional improvements made since our last inspection.

Overall the practice is rated as Good.

Our key findings were as follows:

• The provider had enhanced their systems to receive and act on alerts about medicines that may affect patients’ safety.

• A written policy had been introduced for the identification and process of handling significant events.

• A process had been introduced for regularly reviewing Patient Group Directions (PGDs) to ensure that they met legislative requirements.

• The provider had not improved the monitoring of practice infection control compliance in-between audit cycles.

We also saw the following best practice recommendations we previously made in relation to providing effective, caring and responsive services had been actioned:

• The provider had prioritised a plan and was working towards improving the uptake of annual health assessments for patients with a learning disability. Sixty percent of assessments had been completed since the last inspection and the remainder were scheduled to take place.

• The provider had carried out a detailed audit to investigate the reasons for the higher than average attendance at A&E by registered patients and was following up frequent attenders, reviewing and discussing ways that they can be supported.

• The provider had reviewed the reasons for lower patient satisfaction in the GP national survey for patient experience of their interaction with GPs.

However, there were still areas of practice where the provider could make improvements.

The provider should:

• Develop a more detailed significant event reporting template and undertaking a regular analysis of significant events to identify trends and monitor the effectiveness of any changes made.

• Improve the monitoring and documentation of infection control across the practice.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 2 November 2016

The practice is rated as requires improvement for the care of people with long-term conditions.

• Patients with long-term conditions received condition reviews at appropriate intervals and performance was broadly in line with others.

• The practice had not provided care plans for the 2% of patients identified as at risk of unplanned admission to hospital, many of which had long-term conditions as it had committed to do.

• The practice had performed an initial audit into outcomes for patients with asthma and had identified areas for improvement. It was not clear what improvements measures had been implemented and a repeat audit had not been undertaken to demonstrate any improvements made had worked.

Updated 2 November 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of families, children and young people.

• There was a proactive culture within the practice for identifying and monitoring children and young patients that were at increased risk of harm.

• The opening hours of the practice offered a breadth of opportunity for appointments outside school hours.

• We saw positive examples of joint working with midwives and health visitors.

• The practice’s uptake for the cervical screening programme was 81% compared with the CCG average of 80% and national average of 82%.

Updated 2 November 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of older people.

• There were fewer patients in this population group than local and national averages.

• The practice offered proactive, personalised care to meet the needs of the older people in its population.

• The practice was responsive to the needs of older people, and offered home visits and urgent appointments for those with enhanced needs.

Updated 2 November 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of working-age people (including those recently retired and students).

• The practice offered seven day opening which enabled appointments to be made outside of traditional working hours. This included health screening and condition reviews.

• The practice was proactive in offering online services as well as a full range of health promotion and screening that reflects the needs for this age group.

Updated 2 November 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia).

• 89% of patients with enduring poor mental health had a recent comprehensive care plan in place compared with the clinical commissioning group (CCG) average of 86% and national average of 88%.

• 86% of patients with dementia had a face to face review of their condition in the last 12 months compared with the CCG average of 85% and national average of 84%.

• The practice had told patients experiencing poor mental health about how to access various support groups and voluntary organisations.

Updated 2 November 2016

The practice is rated as requires improvement for the care of people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable.

• The practice provided an interpreter on a weekly basis to assist patients from a Slovakian background where English was not their first language.

• The practice had only provided 12% of patients with a learning disability with an annual health assessment. The national uptake of these assessments was around 50%.

• Staff knew how to recognise signs of abuse in vulnerable adults and children. Staff were aware of their responsibilities regarding information sharing, documentation of safeguarding concerns and how to contact relevant agencies in normal working hours and out-of-hours.