Background to this inspection
Updated
24 May 2021
Drs Green, Broadbelt and Majeed is located within Vittoria Medical Centre in Birkenhead at:
Vittoria Medical Centre
Vittoria Street
Birkenhead
Merseyside
CH41 3RH
The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening procedures, family planning, maternity and midwifery services, treatment of disease, disorder or injury and surgical procedures.
The practice is situated within the Wirral Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and delivers General Medical Services (GMS) to a patient population of about 4764. This is part of a contract held with NHS England.
The practice is part of a wider network of GP practices and are a member of Birkenhead Primary Care Network (Arno).
Information published by Public Health England report deprivation within the practice population group as 1 on a scale of 1 to 10. Level one represents the highest levels of deprivation and level 10 the lowest.
The practice has a higher number of younger and working age people and a lower number of older people registered than the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and England average. The practice caters for a high proportion of patients experiencing a long-standing pulmonary health care condition than national average and a higher prevalence of depression than national average.
The practice has a clinical team of four GPs (three partners and one salaried GP) and practice nurses who provide nurse led clinic’s for long-term conditions. They are supported at the practice by a practice manager, assistant practice manager and a team of reception/administration staff.
Due to the enhanced infection prevention and control measures put in place since the pandemic and in line with the national guidance, most GP appointments were telephone consultations. If the GP needs to see a patient, then a face-to-face appointment is offered. Home visits are available for housebound patients or patients who are too ill to go the practice
Extended access is provided locally by the Primary Care Network, where late evening and weekend appointments are available. Out of hours services are provided by NHS 111.
Updated
24 May 2021
At our previous inspection on 12 September 2019, the practice was rated Good overall and for all key questions but were rated Requires Improvement for Well Led:
We carried out an announced review of Drs Green, Broadbelt and Majeed on 27 April 2021. Overall, the practice is rated as good.
The ratings for the key question followed up was:
Well-led – Requires Improvement
The other key questions remain unchanged as does the overall rating.
The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Drs Green, Broadbelt and Majeed on our website at www.cqc.org.uk
Why we carried out this review:
This review was a follow-up review of information without undertaking a site visit inspection to assess the key question – Well Led
We reviewed the breaches identified at the last inspection of Regulation 17 HSCA (RA) Regulations 2014 Good governance. The regulation was not being met because:
There was a lack of strong systems and processes established and operated to evaluate and improve the practice and so demonstrate good governance. We found:
• There was no documented business plan and strategy to support the practice’s aim to deliver high quality care and promote good outcomes for patients.
• The arrangements for identifying, recording and managing risks, issues and implementing mitigating actions were not operated effectively, in particular relating to infection prevention and control, health and safety, fire safety and staff training.
• The systems to prioritise and improve quality outcomes for patients were not sufficiently developed particularly relating to cervical cancer screening; the prescribing of hypnotic medicines and antibiotic prescribing.
We also reviewed the area where the provider should make an improvement by:
• Considering providing a data logger for both vaccine fridges.
At this assessment we also reviewed some performance areas which had been highlighted to us as poorer performing areas in CQCs intelligence model. These included: disease management, prescribing safety, and prevention.
How we carried out the review
Throughout the pandemic CQC has continued to regulate and respond to risk. However, taking into account the circumstances arising as a result of the pandemic, and in order to reduce risk, we have conducted our reviews differently.
This review was carried out in a way which enabled us to assess information and speak to the practice without having to spend time on site.
This included:
- Speaking with the practice using video conferencing
- Requesting evidence from the provider
- Reviewing action plans sent to us by the provider
Our findings
We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service on a combination of:
- what we found when we reviewed the practice
- information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services and
- information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.
This practice remains rated as Good overall
We found that:
- The breaches of regulation had been addressed and the way the practice was led and managed now promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.
- The practice had developed and implemented a strategy and business development plan with involvement of staff.
- Risk were identified, recorded and managed safely with actions taken to mitigate the risks.
- A suitable infection prevention and control lead had been appointed and had taken responsibility to monitor and improve infection prevention and control. Medicine fridge data loggers were now in place.
- Systems to monitor and improve patient outcomes had been developed and implemented.
- The practice adjusted how it delivered services to meet the needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.
Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care