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<\/p>\nA Greater Manchester hospital has some of the worst waits in the country<\/p>\n
The Emergency Department at Wigan Royal Albert Edward Infirmary(Image: Adam Vaughan)<\/p>\n
A Rochdale GP has been handed a second inadequate rating after ongoing safety issues were discovered, this week\u2019s healthcare<\/a> inspections reveal.<\/p>\n A warning notice was issued to Dr I K Barbar and Partners by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) for failings in safe care and treatment, good governance and staffing. The healthcare watchdog<\/a> said the service did not always listen to concerns about safety and did not always investigate and report safety events.<\/p>\n Not all patients<\/a> felt staff treated them with compassion and understanding, the report added. Safety issues were also found in relation to medicine prescriptions.<\/p>\n The service had been placed in special measures by the CQC in December and remains so.<\/p>\n Click here<\/a> for the latest on Greater Manchester’s politics in our newsletter<\/p>\n Here is a breakdown of Greater Manchester\u2019s recently published CQC reports:<\/p>\n Bolton<\/p>\n Lever Chambers 1 was rated \u2018good\u2019 by inspectors this week. The Ashburner Street GP was judged to offer safe care, with the CQC noting it worked with a local service to offer women\u2019s health screenings and psychological and mental health appointments.<\/p>\n It also had a dedicated nurse to look at respiratory problems in children, with home visits offered. Patients described staff as \u2018lovely and attentive\u2019, \u201810 out of 10\u2019 and \u2018truly caring\u2019.<\/p>\n A second Bolton<\/a> GP service also received a \u2018good\u2019 rating this week. Dr Karim and Dr James-Authe, in Wyresdale Road, was again judged to offer safe care, with staff described as \u2018very helpful\u2019 by patients.<\/p>\n The service employed non-medical staff, known as social prescribers, to support patients with issues such as loneliness, money, jobs and housing. It also worked with external teams to identify people who were at risk of poor health and provided activities to help them, for example gardening and walking groups for those at risk of cardiovascular disease.<\/p>\n Bolton Medical Centre, in Rupert Street, was the third GP in the town to be rated \u2018good\u2019. Safe care was also noted at this service, which was praised for its weekly conversation caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n Carers and those who are lonely and isolated could use this to get health and welfare support, and people were able to see a clinician at the caf\u00e9 without needing to book an appointment.<\/p>\n People said the service was \u2018exceptionally welcoming and friendly\u2019, adding they would \u2018highly recommend\u2019 it.<\/p>\n Also in Bolton, Homecare Team Ltd rounds off the area\u2019s run of \u2018good\u2019 ratings. The domiciliary care service was spoken highly of by relatives, with staff described as \u2018kind, caring and very respectful\u2019.<\/p>\n Staff understood service user needs, and these were reviewed regularly to ensure care remained effective. Care was also very person-centred.<\/p>\n However, some concerns were raised over medicine management, resulting in a requires improvement rating for that category. Inspectors said records were not always accurate or legible and some risk assessments were \u2018incomplete, underestimated the risk of some medicines and did not identify those medicines that were time specific\u2019.<\/p>\n Information also \u2018lacked clarity\u2019 when it came to responsibilities for ordering, collecting, and storing medicines. Where covert administration was used, the provider did not have all the necessary measures in place to ensure these medicines were being administered safely.<\/p>\n Despite this, people reported that they or their loved ones felt safe at the service. One person said: \u201c[Person] feels absolutely safe. [Person] was on his own for a few days last year as we were all away at the same time and Homecare Team were brilliant and gave him round the clock care, which was excellent.\u201d<\/p>\n Another added: \u201cThey are a nice team, all very supportive, we feel very safe, nice people and [person] likes them all. We see familiar faces, they are on time, no problem, no missed visits.\u201d<\/p>\n Manchester<\/p>\n Another \u2018good\u2019 rating was issued to Levenshulme Medical Practice. Some 92pc of respondents to a national survey felt the GP was good at listening to them, and 97pc said they felt their needs were being met.<\/p>\n Care was judged to be safe, and inspectors noted staff responded to people\u2019s needs \u2018in the moment\u2019 to \u2018minimise any discomfort, concern or distress\u2019. It also had books for younger patients to explain medical procedures and help them feel less nervous.<\/p>\n Oldham<\/p>\n Bluebird Care, in Delph, was another service to be judged \u2018good\u2019 by inspectors this week. The homecare service offered \u2018person-centred support\u2019 which \u2018promoted people\u2019s wellbeing and independence\u2019.<\/p>\n Records contained \u2018clear information\u2019 about needs and risks, and plans were reviewed and updated when needs changed. There were enough staff at the service, and these were recruited safely and their competency reviewed with spot checks.<\/p>\n A service user said: \u201cThey [staff] understand my needs and are very helpful. They cheer me up all the time, we have a good laugh and that is important.\u201d<\/p>\n Rochdale<\/p>\n Dr I K Barbar and Partners was rated \u2018inadequate\u2019 overall this week and received that grade for safety and leadership. The GP was rated \u2018requires improvement\u2019 for effectiveness, while caring and responsiveness were not graded at this inspection and remain \u2018requires improvement\u2019.<\/p>\n A warning notice was issued to the service for failings in safe care and treatment, good governance and staffing. This is the second \u2018inadequate\u2019 rating for the service, which was placed in special measures in December.<\/p>\n The CQC said the service did not always listen to concerns about safety and did not always investigate and report safety events. Not all patients felt staff treated them with compassion and understanding.<\/p>\n While most staff had completed their mandatory training, the provider could not evidence training records for a member of staff who had been employed since 2014. Some new employees started work before recruitment checks had been completed and one long-standing employee had not had their right to work check completed. This was rectified during the inspection.<\/p>\n People on high risk medication were not always monitored correctly and some people did not receive all the necessary information when starting on new medicines. The service did not have available all the emergency equipment it needed, including resuscitation equipment.<\/p>\n The Local Democracy Reporting Service approached Dr I K Babar and Partners for a comment, but did not receive one.<\/p>\n Wigan<\/p>\n The Royal Albert Edward Infirmary was rated \u2018requires improvement\u2019 for Urgent and Emergency Services and Medical Care<\/a>, and a warning notice was issued to the Wrightington, Wigan<\/a> and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS<\/a> Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital.<\/p>\n It was found by inspectors to be among the worst in the country for the number of patients spending more than 12 hours in the emergency department. This included \u2018excessively long waits\u2019 for speciality beds, with one patient waiting 44 hours during the inspection. There were \u2018significant\u2019 patient flow issues \u2018across the hospital\u2019, the CQC added.<\/p>\n Patients described the waiting room as \u2018cold, overcrowded and uncomfortable\u2019. Inspectors said they saw patients in mental health crisis, patients with intravenous (IV) fluids being administered, patients in dressing gowns and nightwear, and patients attending from prison with a police escort all sharing the same space.<\/p>\n People sometimes had to fill the adjacent corridor, while patients and their families could not always wait together. Additional delays were found at discharge with the trust again among the worst for this.<\/p>\n Patients’ needs were not \u2018consistently\u2019 checked throughout their stay, while cases of potential sepsis were \u2018not always\u2019 responded to in a \u2018sufficiently timely way\u2019. None of the trust\u2019s sepsis targets had been met between November 2025 and April 2026.<\/p>\n Wards showed \u2018significant staffing shortfalls\u2019 in the six months before the inspection. This could be more than 50pc below planned levels in some areas. Staff training and policy compliance was also \u2018below expected standards\u2019 in some areas.<\/p>\n However, patients said staff were \u201calways good when I come here\u201d and \u201chave been lovely to me all day\u201d.<\/p>\n The Trust said it \u2018recognises the areas where improvement is required and is working hard to address them\u2019. Chief executive Mary Flemming added: \u201cProviding safe, compassionate and high-quality care is our absolute priority and we remain fully committed to delivering the improvements needed for our patients and communities.<\/p>\n \u201cSince the inspection, we have accelerated improvement work through our Emergency Department Transformation Programme, our Trust-wide Fundamentals of Care Programme and our established system-wide Better Lives Programme. This includes improving sepsis recognition and treatment, strengthening patient flow and the care environment, and working closely with mental health partners.<\/p>\n \u201cAlongside this, our Better Lives Programme continues to bring partners together across Wigan borough to address wider health and care system pressures and help people receive the right care, in the right place, at the right time. We are already seeing improvements, but we know there is more work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Ashton View Nursing Home, in Ashton-in-Makerfield received this week\u2019s final \u2018good\u2019 rating. Residents and relatives spoke positively about staff at the home.<\/p>\n One person said: \u201cThe staff are all lovely, they ask how I have got on when I have been out and have a nice cup of tea waiting for me when I get back.\u201d Inspectors added it was \u2018evident people felt comfortable in staff\u2019s presence\u2019.<\/p>\n Care was judged to be safe and staff were up-to-date with their training. The provider also arranged for events such as trips out and visiting singers for residents, which people \u2018enjoyed\u2019.<\/p>\n However, opinions were mixed over staffing levels and inspectors noted a \u2018heavy\u2019 reliance on agency staff while recruitment took place. While care records were overall judged to be detailed, some needed updating as residents\u2019 needs had changed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Greater Manchester hospital has some of the worst waits in the country The Emergency Department at Wigan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":776843,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[2193,2864,102,2960,18165,104,2438,2207,229,2437,56,54,55,2448,136418],"class_list":["post-776842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-bolton","tag-family","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-manchester-family","tag-nhs","tag-oldham","tag-people","tag-politics","tag-rochdale","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wigan","tag-wigan-infirmary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=776842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/776843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=776842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=776842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=776842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}