Forrester Street Medical Centre

Updated 27 December 2021

Forrester Street Medical Centre is located in Walsall at:

1 Forrester Street

Walsall

West Midlands

WS2 9PL

The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities; diagnostic and screening procedures, maternity and midwifery services, family planning, treatment of disease, disorder or injury and surgical procedures.

Information published by Public Health England rates the level of deprivation within the practice population group as one on a scale of one to 10. Level one represents the highest levels of deprivation and level 10 the lowest.

The clinical team consists of a GP partner (male) and five salaried GP (two female and three male). The practice also employs an advanced nurse practitioner (female), an urgent care practitioner (female) and two practice nurses (female). In addition there is one diabetes specialist nurse (female), two clinical pharmacists (male) and two healthcare assistants (female). The team is supported by a practice service manager and a team of administrative staff.

Forrester Street Medical Centre is a two-storey building where consultations take place on the ground floor. There are facilities for patients with a disability including designated parking.

The practice is open Monday to Friday from 8am to 6.30pm. Patients also have access to the Extended GP Access Service between 6.30pm and 9pm on weekdays,10am to 3pm on weekends, and 11am to 1.30pm on bank holidays.

When the practice is closed patients are directed to the out of hours provider via the NHS 111 service.

Updated 27 December 2021

We carried out an announced inspection at Forrester Street Medical Centre on 25 October 2021. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.

The ratings for each key question are:

Safe – Good

Effective - Good

Caring - Good

Responsive - Requires improvement

Well-led – Good

The practice was inspected on 2 February 2020 and rated requires improvement overall and for the key questions safe, effective, responsive and well-led but was rated good for providing caring services.

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Forrester Street Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection

This inspection was a comprehensive inspection which included a site visit to follow up on:

• A breach in Regulation19 HSCA (RA) Regulations 2014 Fit and proper persons employed.

• Areas we identified the provider should make improvements were, evidencing completed actions of infection control audits, addressing the backlog in summarising patient records and maintaining confidentiality in the patient waiting area. In addition implementing strategies to improve the management of patients with long term conditions, increasing the uptake of cancer screening and childhood immunisation, improving patient satisfaction rates in relation to access and making sure complaints information was accessible and complaints were clearly recorded.

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 using video conferencing
• 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 short 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 and for providing safe, effective, caring and well led services. We have rated the service as requires improvement for providing responsive services.

• There were effective systems and processes in place for recruitment and infection prevention and control.

• The practice had comprehensive systems in place for the appropriate and safe use of medicines, this included regular monitoring arrangements for patients on high risk medicines.

• There was a structured and coordinated approach to the management of patients care and treatment.

• The practice continues to perform below national averages for cancer screening and the uptake of childhood immunisations. The practice was taking action to improve.

• Staff were provided opportunities for training and development with access to appraisals, one to one and clinical supervision. There was a high completion rate for staff training.

• People were not always able to access care and treatment in a timely way. The results of the recent national GP survey showed the practice was below the local and national averages for questions relating to access. The practice was taking action to improve access and patients experience of the service.

• Systems and processes were embedded to ensure risks were assessed and managed. Significant improvements had been made since the last inspection.

• There was compassionate, inclusive and effective leadership at all levels. Staff described a positive culture with practice wide learning encouraged and supported.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Review prescribing rates of multiple psychotropics to ensure optimal use of the medicine aligned with patient’s health needs.
• Continue to explore and implement strategies to increase the uptake of childhood immunisations.
• Continue to explore and implement strategies to increase the uptake of cervical, breast and bowel cancer screening.
• Continue to monitor and take action to improve access and patients experience of the service.