Background to this inspection
Updated
29 March 2019
The Whitfield Practice is located at Hunslet Health Centre, 24 Church Street, Leeds LS10 2PT. The premises are a purpose-built health centre which is leased from Leeds Community Health by the provider. There is another GP practice and a range of community services also based at the health centre. There are free car parking facilities nearby and access to transport links.
The provider is registered with the CQC to provide the following regulated activities: diagnostic and screening procedures; treatment of disease, disorder or injury; family planning; maternity and midwifery services; surgical procedures.
The Whitfield Practice is situated within the Leeds Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and are part of a locality group of practices. The practice provides services to approximately 7,442 patients under the terms of a locally agreed NHS General Medical Services (GMS) contract. The National General Practice Profile shows the level of deprivation within the practice demographics as being rated one. (This is based on a scale of one to ten, with one representing the highest level of deprivation.)
The patient population consists of approximately 88% of white ethnicity, with the remaining from a Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) origin. There is an approximate equal ratio of male and female patients. The practice has close links with several local residential care homes, where 56 registered patients resided. There are some variables compared to local averages, for example:
- 52.6% of patients are in paid work or full-time education (compared to 62.7% locally)
- 9.3% of patients are unemployed (compared to 5.3%)
- Male life expectancy is 74.7 years (compared to 78.7 years)
- Female life expectancy is 78.7 years (compared to 83 years)
- Prevalence of smoking is 27.1% (compared to 20.1%)
- Prevalence of depression in those aged 18 years or over is 15.1% (compared to 9.4%)
At the time of our inspection, the practice clinical team consists of two GP partners (one male, one female), two salaried GPs (both female), an advanced nurse practitioner, a practice nurse, a healthcare assistant and a phlebotomist (all female). There is currently a vacant practice nurse post, which the provider was in the process of recruiting to. The non-clinical team consists of a practice manager, a reception team leader and a range of secretarial, administration and reception staff.
The practice has extended hours one morning and one evening per week. Extended hours can also be accessed seven days per week, at various times, via a local NHS service ‘hub’. There are out-of-hours services available for patients in case of emergencies via a locally agreed contract.
Updated
29 March 2019
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at The Whitfield Practice on 7 March 2019 as part of our inspection programme.
At the last inspection on 29 March 2018 we rated the practice as requires improvement overall, with ratings of requires improvement for the domains of safe, effective and well-led. The full comprehensive report regarding the March 2018 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for The Whitfield Practice on our website at
The practice was rated as requires improvement for providing safe, effective and well-led services because:
- A range of appropriate risk assessments relating to health and safety had not been completed.
- The provider had not assured themselves that staff had completed training relating to health and safety matters.
- Recruitment procedures had not been consistently implemented and not all the required checks had been completed prior to employment.
- There were a range of systems and processes which required reviewing to ensure they were safe and effective to promote safe and good governance. For example, the storage of blank prescriptions.
At this inspection, we found that the provider had satisfactorily addressed all the areas of concern which had been raised at the previous inspection.
We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service using a combination of what we found when we inspected, information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services and
information from the provider, patients, public and other organisations.
We have now rated this practice as good overall and good for all population groups.
We found that:
- The range of risk assessments relating to health and safety, such as fire and the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) had been undertaken.
- The practice had reviewed the systems and processes they used to support good governance, which included prescription security
- Recruitment processes were undertaken in line with guidance. There was evidence that Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and occupational health checks had been undertaken of staff. The practice had put in a programme of renewing DBS checks on a rolling three year basis.
- Staff had completed mandatory training and could demonstrate knowledge in those areas, such as safeguarding and infection prevention and control.
- Staff received appraisals which identified any learning and development needs.
- Administration and reception staff had monthly one-to-one meetings with their team leader. They had completed refresher, chaperone and customer service training.
- Staff said they felt supported, respected and valued.
- Patients’ comments we received were positive of the care and service they received.
Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:
- Review the portable appliance testing of equipment to ensure they have all been tested and labelled appropriately.
- Review their programme of audit to ensure that some are two-cycle to demonstrate quality improvements.
- Review the process for reviewing or auditing non-medical and independent prescriber records, to ensure they are prescribing in line with guidance and best practice.
Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence table.
Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care