The Care Quality Commission
  • Doctor
  • GP practice

Atkinson Health Centre Practice

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Alfred Barrow Health Centre, Duke Street, Barrow -in-Furness, LA14 2LB (01229) 822205

Provided and run by:
Atkinson Health Centre Practice

Important: This service was previously registered at a different address - see old profile

All Inspections

18 January 2024

During an inspection looking at part of the service

We carried out a targeted assessment of Atkinson Health Centre Practice in relation to the responsive key question. This assessment was carried out on 10 January 2024 without a site visit. Overall, the practice is rated as Good. We rated the key question of responsive as Good.

Safe - Good

Effective – Good

Caring - Good

Responsive – Good

Well-led – Good

The full reports for previous inspections can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for the

Atkinson Health Centre Practice on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this review.

We carried out this assessment as part of our work to understand how practices are working to try to meet demand for access and to better understand the experiences of people who use services and providers.

We recognise the work that GP practices have been engaged in to continue to provide safe, quality care to the people they serve. We know colleagues are doing this while demand for general practice remains exceptionally high, with more appointments being provided than ever. In this challenging context, access to general practice remains a concern for people. Our strategy makes a commitment to deliver regulation driven by people’s needs and experiences of care. These assessments of the responsive key question include looking at what practices are doing innovatively to improve patient access to primary care and sharing this information to drive improvement.

How we carried out the assessment

This assessment was carried remotely.

This included:

  • Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing.
  • Requesting evidence from the provider.

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 found that:

  • Services are tailored to meet the needs of individual people and were delivered in a way to ensure flexibility, choice and continuity of care. The feedback from the GP National Survey reflected this.
  • All feedback we received from patients regarding appointments and access was positive.
  • The practice understood the needs of its local population.
  • The practice dealt with complaints in a timely manner and learned from them.

Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:

  • Continue to try and recruit patients to a patient participation group (PPG).

Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Health Care

17 August 2022

During a routine inspection

We carried out an announced inspection at Atkinson Health Centre Practice on 17 August 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.

The key question ratings are as follows:

Safe - Good

Effective – Good

Caring – Good

Responsive – Good

Well-led – Good

This is the first time this practice has been inspected under its current CQC registration.

Why we carried out this inspection

This inspection was a comprehensive inspection to check the provider was complying with the regulations under the Health and Social Care Act 2008. We inspected all five key questions to determine if the service is safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led.

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 remotely using video conferencing and also on-site;

• Completing clinical searches and associated records reviews on the practice’s patient records system and discussing findings with the provider;

• Requesting evidence from the provider for analysis;

• A shorter site visit;

• Further communications for clarification.

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;

• 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;
  • Feedback from staff was positive regarding the leadership and management of the practice;
  • Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs although the monitoring of high-risk medicines was in need of review for some patients;
  • Staff dealt with patients with kindness and respect and utilised social prescribing to help improve patient’s health and wellbeing;
  • The practice had adjusted how it delivered services to meet the needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic and monitored access to services;
  • Following the inspection the provider acted promptly to resolve any issues identified during the inspection.

Whilst we found no breaches of regulations, the provider should:

  • Review the management of patients prescribed medicines that require monitoring to ensure this is being completed in accordance with recommended best practice guidelines;
  • Include the contact details of the parliamentary and health service ombudsman in complaint correspondence;
  • Continue with plans to improve cervical cancer screening uptake levels;
  • Progress plans to establish an active patient participation group.

Details of our findings and the evidence supporting our ratings are set out in the evidence tables.

Dr Sean O’Kelly BSc MB ChB MSc DCH FRCA

Chief Inspector of Hospitals and Interim Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services