St Catherine's Health Centre

Updated 4 November 2016

St Catherine’s Health Centre is situated in a deprived area of Wirral. The practice has recently merged with another practice and had 15000 patients on the practice register at the time of our inspection. The practice is situated in a health centre with other health services. There is patient parking available and access to local transport links.

The practice has nine GP partners, three male and six female, a nurse practitioner, four nurses, two health care assistants, a business manager, a patient service manager and a number of administration and reception staff.

The practice is a training and teaching practice for medical students and trainee GPs.

The practice is open between 8am and 6.30pm Monday to Friday and extended hours are provided Saturday 8am to 12pm. There are also arrangements to ensure patients receive urgent medical assistance when the practice is closed. Out of hours patients are asked to contact the NHS 111 service to obtain healthcare advice or treatment.

The practice has a General Medical Services (GMS) contract and has enhanced services contracts which include childhood vaccinations.

Updated 4 November 2016

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at St Catherine’s Health Centre on 22 September 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 an effective 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.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and there was continuity of care, with 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 clear 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:

• The practice should seek information from relevant services to identify those patients with a deprivation of liberty safeguard (DoLS – Mental Capacity Act 2005) in place.

• The practice should review the system used to record information that identified patients in vulnerable circumstances. This is to ensure information was clearly recorded to support clinicians to provide appropriate support, monitoring and treatment.

• The systems used to manage changes in medication with regard to hospital letters anduncollected prescriptions should be reviewed to ensure appropriate action is taken in a timely manner.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 4 November 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of people with long-term conditions.

• Nursing staff had lead roles in chronic disease management and patients at risk of hospital admission were identified as a priority.

• Longer appointments and home visits were available when needed.

• All these patients had a named GP and a structured annual review to check their health and medicines needs were being met. For those patients with the most complex needs, the named GP worked with relevant health and care professionals to deliver a multidisciplinary package of care.

• The practice has proactively worked to improve outcomes for patients with asthma that were not responding adequately to treatment and management systems. This approach was in response to The National Review of Asthma Deaths (NRAD 2014).   

Updated 4 November 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of families, children and young people.

• There were systems in place to identify and follow up children living in disadvantaged circumstances and who were at risk, for example, children and young people who had a high number of A&E attendances. Immunisation rates were relatively high for all standard childhood immunisations.

• Patients told us that children and young people were treated in an age-appropriate way and were recognised as individuals, and we saw evidence to confirm this.

• Appointments were available outside of school hours and the premises were suitable for children and babies.

• We saw positive examples of joint working with midwives, health visitors and school nurses.

• The practice provided a family planning clinic for patients and also to the wider community.

The practice provided taxis for patients who required none urgent treatment at the local A&E department to support speedy treatment for patients and to reduce the pressure on the local ambulance service.

Updated 4 November 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of older people.

• The practice offered proactive, personalised care to meet the needs of the older people in its population.

• The practice was responsive to the needs of older people, and offered home visits and urgent appointments for those with enhanced needs.

• The practice works closely with the community geriatrician service and the local Older Peoples Rapid Access (OPRA) to ensure older people receive a holistic service for their health and social needs.

Updated 4 November 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of working-age people (including those recently retired and students).

• The needs of the working age population, those recently retired and students had been identified and the practice had adjusted the services it offered to ensure these were accessible, flexible and offered continuity of care.

• The practice was proactive in offering online services as well as a full range of health promotion and screening that reflects the needs for this age group.

Updated 4 November 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of people experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia).

• The practice regularly worked with multi-disciplinary teams in the case management of patients experiencing poor mental health, including those with dementia.

• The practice carried out advance care planning for patients with dementia.

• The practice had told patients experiencing poor mental health about how to access various support groups and voluntary organisations.

• The practice had a system in place to follow up patients who had attended accident and emergency where they may have been experiencing poor mental health.

• Staff had a good understanding of how to support patients with mental health needs and dementia.

Updated 4 November 2016

The practice is rated as good for the care of people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable.

• The practice held a register of patients living in vulnerable circumstances including those with a learning disability.

• The practice offered longer appointments for patients with a learning disability.

• The practice regularly worked with other health care professionals in the case management of vulnerable patients.

• The practice informed vulnerable patients about how to access various support groups and voluntary organisations.

• Staff knew how to recognise signs of abuse in vulnerable adults and children. Staff were aware of their responsibilities regarding information sharing, documentation of safeguarding concerns and how to contact relevant agencies in normal working hours and out of hours.