Archived: Gillmoss Medical Centre

Updated 13 May 2016

Gillmoss Medical Centre is based in a deprived area of Liverpool. There were 2660 patients on the practice register at the time of our inspection.

The practice is managed by three related GP partners (2 male, one female). There is a practice nurse who had been in post for two weeks at the time of our inspection. Members of clinical staff are supported by a practice manager, reception and administration staff.

The practice is open 8am to 6.30pm every weekday and operates a GP triage system for patients who wish to be seen on the same day. There is a walk in surgery every morning for patients with urgent needs.

Patients requiring a GP outside of normal working hours are advised to contact the GP out of hour’s service, provided by Urgent Care 24 by calling 111.

The practice has a General Medical Services (GMS) contract and has enhanced services contracts which include childhood vaccinations.

Updated 13 May 2016

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Gillmoss Medical Centre on 15 April 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• The practice was tidy but some flooring and cleaning equipment needed replacing. Recommended guidance needed to be followed to ensure the standard of cleanliness in the building was maintained.

• The practice employed a company to assist them with risk assessments for health and safety requirements. However, there were no risk assessments in place to show how the practice could deal with certain medical emergencies in the absence of a defibrillator and certain medication. There were systems in place to mitigate safety risks including analysing significant events and safeguarding.

• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered in line with current legislation.

• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• Information about services and how to complain was available. The practice sought patient views about improvements that could be made to the service; including having a patient participation group (PPG) and acted, where possible, on feedback.

• The practice had been without a practice nurse for some time but had recently recruited a new nurse who had been in post for two weeks at the time of our inspection. Many of the administration staff had worked at the practice for a long time and knew the patients well. Staff worked well together as a team and all felt supported to carry out their roles.

However, there were areas where the provider should make improvements.

The provider should:

• Carry out risk assessments to specify how the practice would deal with emergency situations without having certain emergency medications and a defibrillator available.

• Carry out an annual review of all incidents to analyse any trends.

• Replace vinyl flooring where necessary and cleaning equipment and follow relevant guidance to help improve the standard of cleanliness of the building.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Updated 13 May 2016

The practice is rated as good for providing services for people with long term conditions.  The practice had registers in place for several long term conditions including diabetes and asthma. Longer appointments and home visits were available when needed. All these patients had a structured annual review to check their health and medicines needs were being met. For those patients with the most complex needs, the GP worked with relevant health and care professionals to deliver a multidisciplinary package of care.

Updated 13 May 2016

The practice is rated as good for providing services for families, children and young people. The practice regularly liaised with health visitors to review vulnerable children and new mothers. There were systems in place to identify and follow up children living in disadvantaged circumstances and who were at risk, for example, children and young people who had a high number of A&E attendances.

Updated 13 May 2016

The practice is rated as good for providing services for older people. The practice offered proactive, personalised care to meet the needs of the older people in its population and offered home visits and care home visits. The practice participated in meetings with other healthcare professionals to discuss any concerns. There was a named GP for the over 75s. 

Updated 13 May 2016

The practice is as rated good for providing services for working age people. The needs of this population group had been identified and the practice had adjusted the services it offered to ensure these were accessible, for example appointments later in the day. There were no online systems available to allow patients to make appointments.

Updated 13 May 2016

The practice is rated as good for providing services for people experiencing poor mental health. Patients experiencing poor mental health received an invitation for an annual physical health check. Those that did not attend had alerts placed on their records so they could be reviewed opportunistically.  The practice liaised with local mental health teams and staff had received training around the Mental Capacity Act and also suicide awareness training.

Updated 13 May 2016

The practice is rated as good for providing services for people whose circumstances make them vulnerable. The practice held a register of patients living in vulnerable circumstances including those with a learning disability. It had carried out annual health checks and longer appointments were available for people with a learning disability.