Shakespeare Medical Practice Leeds: Walk-in centre and GP surgery found to have 'gaps in systems'

A report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) of Shakespeare Medical Practice at Burmantofts Health Centre gave an overall rating of “requires improvement” after issues were found with the effectiveness and leadership of services.

The inspection was carried out on March 16 after concerns were reported to the CQC.

Shakespeare Medical Practice is located at Burmantofts Health Centre and operated by One Medical Group, which has a contract to provide GP services for 7,056 people. It is also contracted through the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust to run the site as a walk-in centre for all patients.

The inspection was focused on both the GP practice and walk-in centre. The report found that there were “gaps in systems and processes to support good governance at the walk-in centre”, including the management of complaints, clinical supervision and staff communication.

Some staff gave feedback saying that they did “not feel they had access to clinical supervision”, while the majority of staff said they felt that “methods of communication were not effective”.

The inspector found that the complaints process at the walk-in centre was “ineffective” as there was “no evidence of complaints being acknowledged or responded to in line with the complaints policy”.

The inspector found that the provider was in breach of regulations and that, in future, it must ensure staff receive appropriate support and supervision and to be “in accordance with the fundamental standards of care”.

It is also said that the walk-in centre should review and improve the access to management support for staff.

There was also praise in the report for the medical centre, with the CQC rating it as “good” for the questions of whether the service is safe, caring and responsive to people’s needs.

It said that there were systems in place to safeguard children and vulnerable adults from abuse and that staff knew how to identify and report safeguarding concerns.

It added: “Patients received effective care and treatment that met their needs in a timely way and that staff dealt with them “with kindness and respect and involved them in decisions about their care”.

A spokesperson for the Leeds office of the West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB in Leeds), said: “ICB in Leeds are aware of the recently published Care Quality Commission (CQC) report into the Shakespeare Medical Practice and the Walk-In Centre in Leeds.

“We are looking closely into the findings highlighted by the CQC and are working directly with the Practice and Walk-In Centre staff to ensure the provider puts in place a series of measures to tackle the issues and address the recommendations made in the report.

We are committed to keeping patients informed and ensuring that practice staff can address any concerns patients may have.”

A spokesperson for One Medical Group said: “OneMedical Group has successfully run the primary care services at Shakespeare Medical Practice in Leeds for eight years. As with all services within the NHS, the walk-in centre and GP practice have faced huge demand challenges over the winter period.

“Our dedicated team pride ourselves on putting patients first and this was reflected in the good rating received by the CQC for being Safe, Caring and Responsive to the needs of our patients.

“We constantly strive to make improvements to the quality of the service we deliver and as a team we have been working closely with the NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Board and Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust to implement recommendations outlined in the CQC’s report (March 2023), many of which have now been addressed.”