IntraHealth Central and West Lancs Office

This service is rated as Good overall.

Following our inspection on 26 April 2023, 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 IntraHealth Central and West Lancs Office looking at all five key questions. This was the location’s first inspection and rating since registration.

The service is registered to provide the following regulated activities:

• Treatment of disease, disorder or injury

The service provides an immunisations and vaccinations service for school aged children in the Central and West Lancashire region.

The registered manager is Laura De Courcy Davies. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Our key findings were:

• The service was offered through NHS service provision and free at the point of care to those children and young people who chose to be vaccinated.
• Information for people who used the service was comprehensive and accessible to people. Information was available in paper or electronic format and could be made suitable for younger children or those with individual accessibility issues. The service signposted service users and their parents or caregivers to other sources of advice and information.
• The staff members that delivered immunisations and vaccinations had the relevant skills, knowledge and experience to deliver the services offered.
• The provider had relevant staff recruitment records to ensure they complied with the regulations.
• There were effective systems and processes to assess the risk of, prevent, detect and control the spread of infection and to mitigate the potential risks of infection including that from COVID-19.
• The provider monitored feedback from those who used their service. Evidence was available which showed people commented positively about the service they received.
• Immunisations and vaccinations delivery were safely managed and there was a process to advise on post treatment support to people, should this be required.
• Appropriate informed and written consent were in place. Issues around Gillick competencies were understood and considered where appropriate.
• The service comprehensively recorded all relevant service user information including written consent, pertinent notes, vaccination serial numbers and location and method of administration. Patient records were stored securely to prevent unauthorised access.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are;

• To actively promote the freedom to speak up arrangements in the organisation.
• To provide the different staff teams (clinical and non-clinical) with clarity regarding the overall leadership of the services being delivered at the local level.

The provider had already taken steps to make improvements in these areas following inspection.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Hospitals and Interim Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services