Blackheath Medical Centre

Updated 21 February 2024

Blackheath Medical Centre is located in the Wirral at:

76 Reeds Lane

Wirral

CH46 1SG

The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening procedures, maternity and midwifery services and treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

The practice is situated within the Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care System (ICS) and delivers General Medical Services (GMS) to a patient population of about 3950. This is part of a contract held with NHS England.

The practice is part of a wider network of GP practices called the North Coast Alliance.

Information published by Office for Health Improvement and Disparities shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the third lowest decile (3 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 95.8% White, 1.8% Asian, 1.5% Mixed, 0.5% Black and 0.4% Other.

There is a team of 5 GPs and regular locum GPs. The practice has a nursing team who provide nurse led clinics. Clinicians are supported at the practice by a team of reception/administration staff led by a practice manager.

The practice is open between 8am to 6.30pm Monday 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 the Primary Care Network, where late evening and weekend appointments are available. Patients can access the out of hours services by calling 111.

Updated 21 February 2024

We carried out an announced assessment of Blackheath Medical Centre on 23 January 2024 without a site visit. The assessment focused on the responsive key question.

Following our previous inspection on 10 May 2022 the practice was rated good overall and for all key questions. The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Blackheath Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

The practice continues to be rated as good overall as this was the rating given at the last comprehensive inspection.

Safe - not inspected, rating of good carried forward from previous inspection

Effective - not inspected, rating of good carried forward from previous inspection

Caring - not inspected, rating of good carried forward from previous inspection

Responsive - good

Well-led - not inspected, rating of good carried forward from previous inspection

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Blackheath Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection

We carried out a targeted assessment of the responsive key question. Targeted assessments enable us to focus on certain key questions to explore particular aspects of care.

How we carried out the assessment

• Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing.

• Requesting evidence from the provider.

• Reviewing patient feedback from a range of sources

• Reviewing data we hold about the service

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:

• Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way and the provider had implemented systems and processes as a result of patient feedback.
• National GP patient survey results relating to access had improved and were above national averages.
• Complaints were handled in a timely manner.

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

• Update the practice website to include all information to support patients with access to the service.
• Take action to provide patients with all information with regards options for raising concerns about the service.

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