This practice is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspection March 2015 – Good)

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? - Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Bollington Medical Centre on 19 April 2018 this inspection was carried out as part of our inspection programme.

At this inspection we found:

• The practice had systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the practice learned from them and improved their processes.
• The practice routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.
• Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• Patients found the appointment system easy to use and reported that they were able to access care when they needed it.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.
• Patients commented positively on the care received by the practice.
• Staff reported there was high staff morale and low turnover of staff.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Carry out more detailed risk assessments with regard to the decision by the practice not to carry out Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks on non-clinical staff to ensure the reason for the decision is clearly documented.
• Continue to monitor the newly implemented system with regard to the management of safeguarding information requests; and the recording and actioning of information with regard to children’s attendance at A&E, walk-in centres and those children who were not brought to attend secondary care appointments to support effective safety netting for this group of patients.
• Effectively monitor the skill mix of the clinical staff to ensure when an absence occurs, appropriate and specialist cover can be accessed in a timely manner to reduce the impact on patients’ care and treatment.
• The storage of patients’ paper records should be reviewed to ensure they are protected against environmental factors such as fire and water.
• The systems and processes that govern non clinical activity should be reviewed to ensure they are effective.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP
Chief Inspector of General Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

This is the report of findings from our inspection of Bollington Medical Centre. The practice is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to provide primary care services. We undertook a planned, comprehensive inspection on 4 December 2014 and we spoke with patients, relatives, staff and the practice management team.

The practice was rated as Good.

Our key findings were as follows:

• Staff understood and met their responsibilities to raise concerns and report incidents, risks and near misses. Lessons were learned and communicated widely to support improvement. There were enough staff to keep people safe.
• Patient’s needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered in line with current legislation. Staff received training appropriate to their roles and further training needs have been identified and planned.
• Patients were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in care and treatment decisions.
• The practice reviewed the needs of their local population, there was good access to services and they were responsive to patients’ needs and wishes.
• The practice had clear leadership, staff felt supported by management. There were systems in place to monitor and improve quality and identify risk. This included good engagement with patients.

We saw one area of outstanding practice as follows:

• The practice worked hard to ensure patient experience played an important role in improving quality service delivery. The practices Patient Participation Group were an important part of this. The group undertook regular patient surveys and had a lead role to play in the planning and opening of the new practice building. The practice communicated well with patients with regular newsletter. They had a good practice website and they engaged with patients via social media such as face book and twitter.

There were areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

The provider should:

• Ensure doctors have available emergency drugs or have in place a risk assessment to support their decision not to have these available for use in a patient’s home.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice