We spent the first day of our visit at Eastham Walk-In Centre talking to patients and staff. We followed up our findings at a second visit by looking at documents and speaking to directors and other staff at the head office of Wirral Community NHS Trust.

We spoke with four patients and their relatives. All the patients we spoke with had previously used the clinic before and were very happy with the care they had received. Comments included: “Always been really happy with the service” and “I am really impressed by the service.” Two patients told us waiting times could vary and be as long as four hours and felt that the service could be improved if an explanation of the waiting times was given.

We found there were policies and procedures in place to follow the Department of Health’s guidance on infection prevention and control. However, we found that the flooring in the clinic was in a state of disrepair and was potentially an infection hazard. We found an increased programme of cleaning was put in place to manage potential risks until the floor was repaired.

We found there were recruitment policies and procedures in place to ensure suitably skilled people were employed to look after patients at the walk in clinic.