Boughton Medical Centre is based close to the centre of Chester and is registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide the regulated activities:
- Diagnostic and screening procedures
- Maternity and midwifery services; and
- Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.
The practice opened from 8.00am to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday and had a patient register of almost 12,000 people. Before our inspection we left comment cards for patients to complete and drop into a box for our review. We found a number of cards were completed and all but one response was positive. A negative comment was made regarding difficulties in securing an appointment with a GP.
We spoke with six patients attending the practice on the day of our inspection, who shared their views on how the practice people’s healthcare needs. They told us they found nursing staff and GP’s caring and compassionate. We talked with five people from the Patient Participant Group. The members of the group told us they thought the practice was very well-led and that all staff were knowledgeable, caring towards patients and that they were always treated with dignity and respect.
We found patients of working age had appreciated the Saturday flu clinics that had been run in the past year. At that time they could visit the surgery on a none working day to take up the offer of this vaccine.
The practice met the requirements of the Equality Act. Access to the building was wheelchair user friendly and all internal doorways were sufficiently wide enough for wheelchairs to pass through. A hearing loop system for people with impaired hearing or deafness was available and a member of staff was trained in the use of British Sign Language, for people who used this form of communication.
The surgery had five nurse practitioners who specialised in particular areas of health care and condition management. Older patients visiting the practice on the day of our inspection told us they valued the blood taking clinic which was held at the practice.
A variety of clinics were run for pregnant women, new born babies and parents of very young children. All immunisations for babies and young children were delivered from the practice.
The practice operated safely and had robust systems in place to ensure patient treatment followed best practice guidelines. Governance processes were in place that enabled the practice to comply with regulations and to deliver safe health care.