We carried out an announced inspection at Bilton Medical Centre on 21 April 2022 Overall, the practice is rated as Good.
Set out the ratings for each key question
Safe - Good
Effective - Good
Caring - Good
Responsive - Good
Well-led - Good
Following our previous inspection on 30 January 2020, the practice was rated good overall and for the key questions safe, effective, caring and well-led but requires improvement for providing a responsive service.
The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Bilton Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk
Why we carried out this inspection
This inspection was a comprehensive inspection undertaken at the same time as the CQC inspected a range of urgent and emergency care services in West Yorkshire. We undertook this inspection to review the quality of care delivered by GP providers and the experience of people who use GP services. We asked a range of questions in relation to urgent and emergency care. The responses we received have been used to inform and support systemwide feedback. We also included additional questions to establish the practice response to access to appointments for patients following the COVID-19 pandemic.
How we carried out the inspection
Throughout the pandemic CQC has continued to regulate and respond to risk. However, taking into account the circumstances arising as a result of the pandemic, and in order to reduce risk, we have conducted our inspections differently.
This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site. This was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements.
This included:
- Conducting staff interviews on the day of inspection
- Using questionnaires sent to staff prior to the on-site visit
- Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system and discussing findings with the provider
- Reviewing patient records to identify issues and clarify actions taken by the provider
- Requesting evidence from the provider
- A shorter site visit
Our findings
We based our judgement of the quality of care at this service on a combination of:
- what we found when we inspected
- information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services and
- information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.
We have rated this practice as Good overall
We found that:
- The practice provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
- The uptake of bowel, breast and cervical cancer screening at the practice was below national averages. However, we saw that ongoing actions were being taken to improve uptake and attendance.
- Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs.
- Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care.
- The practice adjusted how it delivered services to meet the needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients could access care and treatment in a timely way.
- The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.
We saw one area of outstanding practice:
- Staff from the practice were able to offer food bank vouchers to vulnerable patients. The team collected regular donations for vulnerable individuals including food, blankets and toiletries; they had raised funds for a local community kitchen and also volunteered to help at a local homeless resource. The practice had also developed a ‘Vulnerable persons directory’ which directed staff and patients to a number of support services and options. This included foodbanks, homeless services and debt counselling and support. Links on the practice website also directed patients to support as required.
Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:
- Encourage and improve uptake rates for childhood immunisations.
- Encourage and improve uptake rates for cancer screening programmes.
Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.
Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP
Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care