The Beeches Medical Centre

Updated 17 August 2023

The Beeches Medical Centre is located in Longton, Preston at:

Liverpool Road,

Longton

Preston

PR4 5AB

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, surgical procedures and family planning.

The practice is situated within NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) and delivers General Medical Services (GMS) to a patient population of about 2031. This is part of a contract held with NHS England.

The practice is part of a wider network of GP practices called the Preston and South Ribble Group Primary Care Network (PCN) with other local practices.

Information published by Office for Health Improvement and Disparities shows that deprivation within the practice population group is in the highest decile (ten 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 98% White, 1% Asian and 1% Other.

There are more older people registered at the practice compared to local and national averages and less working age and young people.

There is a clinical team of 1 GP at the practice and 1 practice nurse who provides nurse led clinics for long-term conditions reviews. At the time of this inspection a new practice nurse had been recruited but had not commenced employment at the service. The GP was supported at the practice by a team of 3 reception/administration staff and a practice manager who provided managerial oversight.

The practice is open between 8.00am 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 on Tuesday and Thursday evening from 6.30pm to 7.00pm by the GP and there is also extended access to appointments available Monday to Friday from 6.30pm to 8.00pm through a local arrangement with a neighbouring practice. Weekend access is provided on the last Saturday of each month from 9.00am to 12.00pm by the GP. Out of hours services are provided by NHS 111 and through an arrangement with an out of hours provider.

Updated 17 August 2023

We carried out an announced inspection at the Beeches Medical Centre on 26 June, 4 July and 5 July 2023. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.

We rated each key question as follows:

Safe - Good

Effective - Good

Caring - Good

Responsive - Good

Well-led – Good

Following our previous inspection on 1 June 2022, the practice had been rated requires improvement overall. It was rated requires improvement for the key questions safe and well led and rated good for the effective, caring and responsive key questions.

At this inspection, we found that those areas previously highlighted as requiring improvement had been improved. The practice is therefore now rated good for providing safe and well led services and good overall.

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

Why we carried out this inspection

We carried out this inspection to follow up breaches of regulation from a previous inspection. It was a full comprehensive inspection looking at all five key questions.

How we carried out the inspection/review

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site.

This included:

• Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing and face to face
• Requesting written feedback from staff and patients
• Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system and discussing findings with the provider
• Reviewing patient records to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider
• Requesting evidence from the provider
• A site visit.

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:

• Our clinical record searches identified that all issues from the previous inspection had been addressed.
• The practice now had oversight of the monitoring of high risk medicines and disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs). We saw that appropriate monitoring was in place with creatinine clearance being monitored appropriately and there was evidence that blood test results were checked before medicines were issued.
• Systems to identify overprescribing of respiratory inhalers were now established and were effective.
• Recruitment systems were in line with best practice.
• Infection prevention and control processes and procedures were in order.
• The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
• Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
• Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
• The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.

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

• Improve the documentation of medication reviews undertaken. The records should include detail of the discussion that took place including the efficacy and suitability of medicines taken as part of the monitoring of the patient’s medication.
• Continue with website upgrade.

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