Archived: Walkden Gateway

Updated 10 January 2020

Walkden Gateway provides primary care to its list of 2,055 patients under a General Medical Services (GMS) contract. The provider is registered for the following regulated activities: Diagnostic and screening, Maternity and midwifery, Treatment of disease, disorder or injury and surgical procedures.

Regulated activities are provided from the following address:

2 Smith Street
Walkden
Greater Manchester
M28 3EZ

The practice has a website that contains information about what they do to support their patient population and the in house and online services offered: www.walkdengatewaymedical.co.uk

The senior GP partner (male) is supported by a salaried female GP and extra sessions are provided by a male locum GP. The practice employs a practice nurse and phlebotomist. There is also a practice manager and supporting administration staff.

The average life expectancy and age profile of the practice population is above the CCG averages. The practice is rated as two out of 10 on the deprivation score (one being the most deprived).

Patients requiring a GP outside of normal working hours are advised to contact NHS 111.

Updated 10 January 2020

We carried out a focused inspection at Walkden Gateway on 26 November 2019. The announced inspection was following our annual regulatory review with the practice which had identified changes in the practice and triggered this inspection. We inspected the key question areas of effective and well led. During the inspection we identified concerns which led us to inspect the key question of safe. We utilised information from our previous inspection findings for the key question areas of caring and responsive. 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 have rated this practice as requires improvement overall.

We rated the practice as requires improvement for providing safe services because:

• The practice did not have clear systems and processes to keep patients safe.
• A staff member had acted as a chaperone without training, risk assessment or DBS in place.
• Patient safety and medicine alerts were not regularly being reviewed and acted on.
• Not all staff members were aware of the location of the defibrillator and the emergency medicines were not being physically checked.
• Recruitment checks for a locum GP had not been carried out in accordance with regulations.

We rated the practice as requires improvement for providing effective services because:

• There was limited monitoring of the outcomes of care and treatment.
• The practice was unable to demonstrate that staff had completed training relevant to their role.
• A member of staff had not had an appraisal since 2017.

We rated the practice as inadequate for providing well-led services because:

• Leaders could not show that they had the capacity and skills to deliver high quality, sustainable care.
• While the practice had a clear vision, that vision was not supported by a credible strategy.
• The overall governance arrangements were ineffective.
• The practice did not have clear and effective processes for managing risks, issues and performance.
• We saw little evidence of systems and processes for learning, continuous improvement and innovation.

These areas affected all population groups so we rated all population groups as requires improvement.

The areas where the provider must make improvements are:

• Ensure that care and treatment is provided in a safe way.
• Establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care.

(Please see the specific details on action required at the end of this report).

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Review the storage location of clinical samples.

Updated 10 January 2020

Updated 10 January 2020

Updated 10 January 2020

Updated 10 January 2020

Updated 10 January 2020

Updated 10 January 2020