Archived: Winifred Kettle

Updated 14 April 2020

Bolton GP Federation is owned by its members who are local GP practices across nine neighbourhoods in Bolton. Their motto is “Stronger through working together” and their aim is to find new ways of working that bring the skills of different health professionals into general practice to provide the right care for the right person at the right time whilst using resources and time more efficiently.

Winifred Kettle is one of the locations where EPC hours are provided by Bolton GP Federation. CQC undertook an inspection of the Bolton GP Federation EPC service at Winifred Kettle on 24 and 25 February 2020. This location is a purpose-built health centre managed by NHS Property Services.

Evening and weekend appointments are available at this location as part of Improving Access to General Practice. Patients who are registered at various practices across Bolton can see a GP or nurse every weekday from 6.30pm until 9.30pm and at the weekend on a Saturday and Sunday morning from 8am until 1pm and on Bank Holidays. The extended service is delivered and managed by Bolton GP Federation.  The service primarily provides routine appointments for those patients who are working or unable to attend a GP practice between 8am and 6pm. Urgent and on-the-day requests are not part of this service, although appointments may sometimes be utilised for urgent requests where there is capacity.

Patients who need an appointment for routine ongoing health conditions can see a GP, advanced nurse practitioner or a nurse or health care assistant and can access a phlebotomy service, cervical screening appointment and/or routine health check. Clinics are arranged at Winifred Kettle or one of the other two locations (Waters meeting and Urgent Treatment Centre, RBH). Each appointment is for fifteen minutes.

Clinical staff are employed by the provider and the GPs and advanced nurse practitioners are mainly clinical staff already working at one of the local practices within Bolton. Patients can often see their own GP, or a GP known to them, during EPC appointments. Clinicians have full access, with the ability to read and write into each patient’s clinical record.

The clinical sessions and clinical staff are supported by a receptionist at each location. There is also a team of clinical and administrative service co-ordinators on call during core opening hours who offer a range of support and guidance to the onsite staff.

The provider Bolton GP Federation is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to provide the regulated activities of diagnostic and screening procedures and treatment of disease, disorder or injury at:

Winifred Kettle

Washacre Lane
Westhoughton
Bolton BL5 2NG

The location is accessible by public transport. The Winifred Kettle Centre is off the A58 at Westhoughton. The nearest train station is Daisy Hill which is an approximate four-minute walk away.

The practice has a website that contains information about what they do to support their patient population:

Updated 14 April 2020

This service is rated as Good overall.

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Winifred Kettle (Bolton GP Federation Extended Primary Care) on 24 and 25 February 2020. The inspection was carried out as part of our inspection programme.

At this inspection we found:

• The provider had effective systems in place at this location to ensure staff had a consistent approach to the service delivery. All staff we spoke to were consistent about avenues of communication.
• Staff we spoke with felt very supported by the teams they worked alongside and the management.
• There were systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When they did happen, the service learned from them and improved their processes.
• The provider routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided at this location. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence-based guidelines.
• A folder with information to support all staff, with step by step guidance/printed help sheets and referral forms was available at the location to ensure the service would run consistently. All staff we spoke to were aware of its existence.
• There was a comprehensive quality assurance system in place around policies and procedures, with all staff having access to the systems onsite.
• Patients were able to access care and treatment from the service within an appropriate timescale for their needs. We spoke with more than five patients and all were very satisfied with the service and the care received.
• The appointment system was well-managed, but clinics were scheduled dependent on which clinical system the patient’s GP used, rather than the area they lived in or the GP practice they were registered at. Whilst this was responsive for some patients it was less responsive for others. Patients we spoke to about this were not even aware of it and all had been very happy with their appointment date and time.
• Staff involved and treated people with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect and this was very evident at this location.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.

The provider should:

• The provider should assure themselves that all training is relevant to each location, and that each member of staff is aware of any differences at the location they are working at, for example in relation to fire and/or health and safety and chaperoning.
• The provider should assure themselves each member of staff working at each location is aware of policies, procedures and where to find information in relation to EPC.
• The service should assure itself that all necessary recruitment checks, such as DBS checks, are undertaken and/or documented, and not solely rely on information already collected by other primary care employers.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care