We are a safe practice – we help to keep our patients, their families and our staff safe.

Here at Birchwood Medical Practice we take huge pride in and do our very best to ensure everyone is ‘safe’ whether you are receiving care as a patient, you are working here as part of our wonderful team or you are one of our partner agencies.

Safeguarding

We have robust Safeguarding Policies in place and a Dedicated Team who meet on a regular basis to discuss any Safeguarding issues/concerns. We ensure that records are as up to date with the correct information as possible.

Birchwood’s Safeguarding Team

Designated Safeguarding Lead GP – Dr Katherine Duffield

Deputy Safeguarding Lead GP – Dr Catherine Armstrong

Deputy Safeguarding Lead GP – Dr Amanda Humphries

Safeguarding Lead Nurse – Nurse Jessie ON

Safeguarding Clerk – Louise Clayton

All patients have a named responsible doctor allocated to them. Patients are notified of this when they are registered.

We are now building positive working relations with our local schools as we know that “Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility” and in order to keep our most vulnerable children and families safe we need to work with other organisations.

We also have close working relationships and a specialist Frailty Team who help those vulnerable elderly adults in care homes.

Safeguarding is a mandatory discussion point in ALL practice meetings.

We have a Safeguarding Board for patients which shows what to do if they are worried about a child, young person or adult.

We have quarterly meetings to discuss any “Significant Events” and also look at “Learning Opportunities” to ensure that we are constantly looking at how we can improve.

We are adequately staffed and have a robust recruitment processes in place to ensure that all staff are DBS checked and have the skills and knowledge in place in order to keep our patients, staff and partners safe. All staff have training opportunities offered on a personal basis based on yearly appraisals to allow them to maintain and develop further in their roles if they wish to do so. Staff hours are monitored and checked again through appraisal and the staff are given the opportunity to discuss their roles and anything that can be improved.

We have strong Infection Control protocols and perform regular audits to ensure that our premises are clean, safe and risk-free. Our premises are constantly monitored and maintained for being appropriate and safe for our users. External and internal inspections by our handyman take place regularly and he takes care of immediate and general issues with the management staff. The safety of our patients, staff, and partners is extremely important to us and we have upgraded our fire alarm system, the building is Security alarmed and monitored over night and we have installed external CCTV. Electrical, heating, water and Legionella checks are carried out by a qualified organisation.

We have robust Health and Safety and Fire awareness procedures. We have a Health & Safety, and Fire Officer and a Deputy, and two Appointed First Aiders. The Health and Safety protocol is updated yearly by DCL Business Services Limited to make sure we are compliant with current regulations. We have weekly fire alarm checks and annual fire drills.

We regularly monitor and assess all of our equipment to make sure all of it is safe and working effectively including the scales, BP monitors and all electrical equipment is PAT tested to ensure it is safe.

Attention is paid to the needs of disabled users; e.g. disabled parking bays, wheelchairs, handrails in the entrance and corridors, hearing loop, hydraulic examination couches, high backed and elevated chairs in reception, bariatric chairs and scales for larger patients. We have two disabled access toilets. We have recently added a Calm Corner to our Reception Area for those patients who need to be in a quieter and less busy area.

We also cater for younger members of families by having baby change facilities and we welcome mothers breastfeeding here at the practice.

We have plans in place to ensure service delivery even in adverse weather, major incidents, and seasonal demand variations.

All staff are trained in Safeguarding, Health & Safety, consent and confidentiality and information governance.

We are also proud to be registered as a “Safe Surgery”. This means we have committed to taking steps to tackle the barriers faced by many migrants in accessing healthcare. We have declared that our practice is a ‘Safe Surgery’ for everyone and we have ensured that that lack of ID or proof of address, immigration status or language are not barriers to patients registering with us here at Birchwood Medical Practice.

As a “Safe Surgery” we recognise the barriers individuals may experience when trying to access healthcare, particularly migrants in vulnerable circumstances, and believe that small changes can make a difference. We continue to try and lead by example and work to ensure that nobody in our community is excluded.