The Care Quality Commission
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  • GP practice

Archived: Dr Alistair Partnership

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

7 Brooks Medical Centre, 21 Church Street, Atherton, Manchester, Greater Manchester, M46 9DE (01942) 483250

Provided and run by:
Dr Alistair Partnership

Important: The provider of this service changed. See new profile

All Inspections

16 August 2016

During a routine inspection

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dr Alistair Partnership on 16 August 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

  • There was an open and transparent approach to safety and a system in place for reporting and recording significant events.
  • Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
  • Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance. Staff had been trained to provide them with the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
  • Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
  • 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.
  • Some patients said they found it difficult to make a routine appointment with a named GP however there were urgent appointments available the same day.
  • The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
  • There was a leadership structure and staff felt supported by management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
  • The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

  • Ensure that key members of staff have a copy of the “Buddy Plan” for business continuity at their disposal at home.
  • Review the system for recording information from significant events analysis.
  • Continue with the ongoing plan to improve patient access.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

26 September 2013

During a routine inspection

We spoke with seven patients on the day of our visit who were mostly positive about the care and treatment they received. Several patients told us, independently of each other, that the practice had improved a lot over the last two years. The comments we heard included 'Staff are always polite. They listen to what to what I have to say'; 'The service here is first class' and 'This is an excellent practice. The staff are the best that they have had for a long time.' We received some negative comments about the appointment system in use. We found that there was an effective system in place to ensure that all patients who required an urgent appointment were seen by a doctor.

We found staff had access to contact details for both safeguarding children and vulnerable adults. There were suitable safeguarding arrangements in place should an incident occur.

Staff told us they were well supported and they had enough training for their roles. We found that staff had not received updated training in areas such as moving and handling and health and safety. We were told that managers were aware of this and it was being dealt with.

There were appropriate systems in place to monitor the quality of care delivered at the practice and there were regular clinical supervision meetings where clinical issues and significant events were discussed. There were systems in place to ensure that records were accurate and that patient's personal information was protected.