Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Causeway Medical Centre on 6 January 2016. The practice has a branch surgery at the address: Great Sankey Health Centre, Hood Manor Centre, Great Sankey, Warrington, WA5 1UH. We visited the branch surgery as part of the inspection. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

• Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance.

• Staff had the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.

• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and that they were involved in decisions about their care and treatment.

• Patients felt informed about their health conditions and the treatment options available to them.

• The practice was proactive in identifying and supporting patients to prevent common health conditions.

• There were systems in place to reduce risks to patient safety for example, infection control procedures.

• Patients found it easy to make an appointment and there was good continuity of care.

• The practice provided appropriate facilities for disabled patients and was equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.

• There was a clear leadership structure and staff understood their roles and responsibilities.

• The practice proactively sought feedback from patients and acted upon it.

• Complaints were investigated and responded to appropriately.

• The practice learned from events and complaints and used this learning to improve the service.

• The practice made good use of audits, the results of which were used to improve outcomes for patients.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

• Review clinical staffing, in particular nursing, to ensure that this is sufficient to meet patient needs.

We saw one area of outstanding practice:

• The practice worked proactively to identify patients at risk of developing health conditions and referred /signposted patients for advice and support on preventative care. The practice had recently started working with a local primary school to promote health matters such as immunisation, to encourage children to attend drop in sessions at the practice and to provide information and messages about health matters on the school newsletter.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice