Archived: The Wick Health Centre

We carried out an announced comprehensive at The Wick Health Centre on 17, 20 and 28 October and 1 November 2022. Prior to inspection we had been told the service was registered with CQC as a partnership but upon arrival at the site we were told that one partner had passed away. We identified that all other relevant agencies had been notified with the exception of CQC. As the service was no longer registered correctly with the commission, the provider agreed to submit an application to register immediately, for the correct regulated activities. Once the practice is correctly registered with the commission, we will undertake an inspection within 12 months of the new provider being registered.

Following our previous inspection published 12 January 2017, the practice was rated good overall and for all key questions.

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

The Wick Health Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection

We carried out this inspection following a change to the provider’s location registered with the commission.

• We reviewed all the key questions.

How we carried out the inspection

This inspection was carried out in a way which enabled us to spend a minimum amount of time on site.

This included:

• Conducting staff interviews using video conferencing.
• Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system (this was with consent from the provider and in line with all data protection and information governance requirements).
• 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 carried out the review,
• information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services and
• information from the provider, patients, the public and other organisations.

We found that:

• The practice manager was recruited in March 2022 and the previous practice manager had not been onsite for over two years and had not provided a detailed handover. The practice manager explained how they had been working through all the systems and process to review and update them but had not completed this at the time of our review. For example, the management of annual medicine reviews, staff training, and The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) safety alerts
• 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.
• 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.
• Staff had the information they needed to deliver safe care and treatment.
• A member of the patient participation group provided very positive feedback about the practice and the staff.
• The NHS GP survey provided very positive feedback about the staff and the access to the practice.

The provider should:

• Take steps to carry out annual health and safety and infection prevention and control risk assessments and record any actions taken.
• Check the emergency equipment is working and up to date regularly.
• Put a system in place to carry out annual medication reviews for patients.
• Put a clear system in place for the management and action of MHRA safety alerts.
• Take steps to increase the number of annual patient long term health condition reviews.
• Carry out a patient and staff survey.
• Take steps to have oversight of all staff training and confirm staff are competent for their roles.
• Put into place a system to confirm the scope of practice for clinical staff whom are not GPs.
• Review all policies to reflect the practice working and are dated and reviewed.
• Review all significant events to enable staff to consistently learn from them.

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