Seascale Health Centre

Updated 9 September 2022

Seascale Health Centre is registered with CQC to provide Primary Medical Services to patients from one location:

• Gosforth Road, Seascale, Cumbria, CA20 1PN.

It has one branch located at:

• Chapel Lane, Bootle, Cumbria, LA19 5UE

We visited only Seascale Health Centre as part of this inspection.

The provider is registered with CQC to deliver the Regulated Activities: diagnostic and screening procedures; treatment of disease, disorder or injury; maternity and midwifery services; family planning; and surgical procedures.

The practice is situated within the NHS North East and Cumbria integrated care board (ICB) and delivers General Medical Services (GMS) to about 5845registered patients. This is part of a contract held with NHS England.

Opening times are 8.30am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday.

Information taken from Public Health England places the area in which the practice is in the eighth decile. In general, people living in less deprived areas tend to have lesser need for health services. However, the practice’s age distribution profile is weighted towards an above national average older population with almost 30% of their list being over the age of 65.

The practice is part of a wider network of GP practices and is a member of the Copeland Primary Care Network (PCN), which includes GP practices in the Copeland district of West Cumbria, including the towns of Whitehaven, Cleator Moor, and Egremont. Extended access is provided locally by Cumbria Health Extended Access (CHEA), where late evening and weekend appointments are available. Out of hours services are provided by NHS 111 and Cumbria Health on Call (CHoC).

Updated 9 September 2022

We carried out an announced inspection at Seascale Health Centre on 11 and 12 August 2022. Overall, the practice is rated as Good.

The ratings for each key question are:

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 Seascale Health Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Why we carried out this inspection

This inspection was a comprehensive inspection to rate the practice following a change to their registration with CQC. This was therefore the first rated inspection of the service under this provider.

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 using video conferencing.
• Staff questionnaires
• Completing clinical searches on the practice’s patient records system and discussing findings with the provider.
• 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 inspected
• information from our ongoing monitoring of data about services and
• 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.
• 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.
• The practice adjusted how it delivered services to meet the needs of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The way the practice was led and managed promoted the delivery of high-quality, person-centre care.

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