Skip to main content Skip to accessibility tools

About us

Welcome to Culcheth Medical Centre

We’re delighted to welcome you to Culcheth Medical Centre — a friendly and caring General Practice serving patients living in Culcheth, Glazebury, Croft, and the surrounding areas.
Here, we believe in working closely with our patients and our Patient Participation Group (PPG) to provide high-quality, personalised medical care that meets the needs of our community.
We look forward to supporting you and your family’s health and wellbeing.

This guide tells you what to expect from your general practice (GP) and how you can help them, so you get the best from the National Health Service (NHS). More details can be found through the links below.The information is available in lots of different languages. 

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/you-and-your-general-practice-english/

 

Culcheth Medical Centre is part of Warrington Innovation Network PCN

A Primary Care Network (PCN) is a group of practices who work together to provide additional services to our patients.

General Practice has been required to diversify and we are now working together to serve our patients. 

Our PCN is made up of the following GP Practices, with a patient population of 55,000 patients. 

  • 4Seasons Medical Centre
  • Chapelford Medical Centre
  • Guardian Medical Centre
  • Parkview Medical Centre
  • Springfields Medical Centre

This means you may be offered an appointment with one of our shared clinicans, they may be based at Culcheth Medical Centre or at another one of our member practices. The clinician you are seeing as part of our PCN service is still part of your practice and is an extension to our Primary Care team.

We would encourage patients to access the most appropriate appointment with the clinician best placed to see you for your condition, even if they are not based at our practice that day. 

Appointments offered include: 

  • Enhanced Access Appointments
  • General Practitioner
  • Advanced Nurse Practitioner
  • First Contact Practitioner
  • Prescribing Pharmacist
  • Clinical Pharmacist 
  • Pharmacy Technician
  • Home Visiting Paramedic
  • Care Coordinator

Please visit our dedicated Primary Care Network website, for more information about us, the services we provide and the clinician you have been booked to see: https://www.warringtoninnovationnetwork.nhs.uk/services

Infection Prevention Control (IPC) Annual Statement 2024 - 2025

Purpose

This annual statement will be generated each year in JANUARY in accordance with the requirements of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 Code of Practice on the prevention and control of infections and related guidance. It summarises:

  • Any infection transmission incidents and any action taken (these will have been reported in accordance with our Significant Event procedure)
  • Details of any infection control audits undertaken and actions undertaken
  • Details of any risk assessments undertaken for prevention and control of infection
  • Details of staff training
  • Any review and update of policies, procedures and guidelines

 

Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) at Culcheth Medical Centre

IPC Lead: Julie Brookes

  • Significant Events: Any infection-related incidents are thoroughly investigated to identify learning points and improve future practices. These are reviewed quarterly, and no significant infection control events were reported in the past year.

  • Audits and Monitoring:

    • Annual Infection Prevention and Control audit completed by the IPC lead.

    • Monthly cleanliness audits conducted by cleaning staff.

    • Hand hygiene audits and other infection control measures are regularly reviewed at staff meetings and via online training modules.

  • Risk Assessments:

    • Legionella (water safety) risk assessment is performed annually; water quality is monitored monthly by NHS PS (landlord).

    • Curtains are disposable and replaced every 12 months per NHS cleaning guidelines; window blinds are regularly vacuumed. Clinicians follow strict hand hygiene before handling curtains.

    • No toys are present in waiting or consultation areas to reduce infection risks.

  • Cleaning Practices:

    • Cleaning follows a clear policy with specified frequency and standards for all areas, including equipment.

    • Clinical handwashing sinks meet required standards, equipped with soap dispensers and handwashing guides.

  • Staff Training:

    • All staff complete annual IPC training, with key updates shared regularly during in-house sessions.

    • IPC policies are reviewed annually and updated as needed to reflect current guidelines; these are available to all staff on the GP TeamNet platform and included in training materials.

  • Responsibility:

    • Every staff member is expected to understand and follow IPC policies.

    • The IPC lead (Julie Brookes) and Practice Manager (Shelley Moores) are responsible for reviewing and updating the annual IPC statement.

Next review due: January 2026

Infection Prevention Control (IPC) Annual Statement 2025 - 2026

Purpose

This annual statement will be generated each year in JANUARY in accordance with the requirements of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 Code of Practice on the prevention and control of infections and related guidance. It summarises:

  • Any infection transmission incidents and any action taken (these will have been reported in accordance with our Significant Event procedure)
  • Details of any infection control audits undertaken and actions undertaken
  • Details of any risk assessments undertaken for prevention and control of infection
  • Details of staff training
  • Any review and update of policies, procedures and guidelines

Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Lead

Culcheth Medical Centre for Infection Prevention and Control:

Infection transmission incidents (Significant Events)

Significant events (which may involve examples of good practice as well as challenging events) are investigated in detail to see what can be learnt and to indicate changes that might lead to future improvements. All significant events are reviewed in the quarterly meetings and learning is cascaded to all relevant staff.

In the past year there have been no significant events raised that related to infection control.

Infection Prevention Audit and Actions

  • The Infection Prevention and Control audit is completed annually and the IPC lead currently is nurse Julie Brookes.
  • Techniques and best practice are discussed at staff practice meetings and on the Blue stream training module.
  • A Cleanliness audit is completed monthly.

Culcherh Medical Centre plan to continue to undertake the following audits in 2023

  • Annual Infection Prevention and Control audit
  • Domestic Cleaning audit (Cleaning Company)
  • Hand hygiene audit

Risk Assessments

Risk assessments are carried out so that best practice can be established and then followed. In the last year the following risk assessments were carried out / reviewed:

Legionella (Water) Risk Assessment: The practice has conducted its water safety risk assessment in the last 12 months to ensure that the water supply does not pose a risk to patients, visitors or staff. The water is monitored every month by NHS PS-who are our landlord, and the audit is kept on site.

Curtains: The NHS Cleaning Specifications state the curtains should be cleaned or if using disposable curtains, replaced every 12 months. To this effect we use disposable curtains and ensure they are changed every 12 months. The window blinds are very low risk and therefore do not require a particular cleaning regime other than regular vacuuming to prevent build-up of dust. The modesty curtains although handled by clinicians are never handled by patients and clinicians have been reminded to always remove gloves and clean hands after an examination and before touching the curtains. All curtains are regularly reviewed and changed if visibly soiled.

Toys:

There are no toys in waiting / consultation rooms.

Cleaning specifications, frequencies and cleanliness:

We have a cleaning specification and frequency policy which our cleaners and staff work to. An assessment of cleanliness is conducted by the cleaning team and logged. This includes all aspects in the surgery including cleanliness of equipment.

Hand washing sinks: All clinical sinks meet the required standards with wall mounted soap dispensers and visual guides for hand washing techniques.

Training

All our staff receive annual training in infection prevention and control.

                            has completed Infection prevention and control training and key learning facts are disseminated to the HCA/Practice nursing team during in house training sessions.

Policies

All Infection Prevention and Control related policies are in date for this year.

Policies relating to Infection Prevention and Control are available to all staff and are reviewed and updated annually, and all are amended on an on-going basis as current advice, guidance and legislation changes. All policies are kept on GP teamnet for staff to access freely.

Infection Control policies are attached to the annual training module in Bluestream for reading and any updates are circulated and discussed at meetings when required.

Responsibility

It is the responsibility of each individual to be familiar with this Statement and their roles and responsibilities under this.

Review date

January 2025

 

Responsibility for Review

The Infection Prevention and Control Lead   Julie Brookes  and the Practice  Manager  Shelley Moores are responsible for reviewing and producing the Annual Statement.

 

Return to header