A Kirkdale GP surgery has been told to improve its service to patients after complaints were raised about access to appointments.
A Care Quality Commission (CQC) report has revealed inspectors have ordered Stanley Medical Centre to tighten up its processes after issues were identified with how it cares for and responds to patients’ concerns. An inspection of the Stanley Road surgery was carried out by CQC officials in April.
The centre, which cares for more than 4,300 patients in north Liverpool, falls under the jurisdiction of the NHS Liverpool Integrated Care Board (ICB).
READ MORE: Elle Edwards latest: Live updates as Connor Chapman trial enters final stages
In its report, the Care Quality Commission said the provider changed in December 2022, after falling into special measures in February of the same year and being rated inadequate overall. While improvements had been made, the health inspectorate said challenges still remained.
The report said feedback from patients in a national GP patient survey were below local and national averages for questions relating to healthcare professionals being good at listening, good at treating people with care and concern and patients overall experience of their GP practice. It was said staff at the surgery had not sought to find out if the patients' views had changed on the service they had received.
Further improvements were deemed necessary for providing responsive services. This centred around a lack of “robust” records being kept for complaints received by the practice.
Additionally, patient responses around access issues such as, getting through on the telephone, experience of making an appointment, appointment times and satisfaction with appointment times were below local and national averages. Again, an update record on the patient experience was not kept, the CQC said.
The lack of effective system for identifying, receiving, recording, handling, and responding to complaints was found to be a breach of regulations according to the health inspectorate’s report.
In a bid to further improve performance, the CQC urged the practice to “take action to ensure all staff at risk of being exposed to blood, body fluids or tissues as part of their work have up to date immunisation vaccination for Hepatitis B Virus.”
The surgery has also been encouraged to increase the frequency for checking the supply of emergency medicines.
A spokesperson for NHS Cheshire and Merseyside said: “It’s really important to us that people have access to high quality GP care. We’re working with this GP practice to further understand the issues raised within the CQC report, and support an improvement plan in the areas where this is required.”
Don't miss the biggest and breaking stories by signing up to the Echo Daily newsletter here
