Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Alexandra Road and their branch surgery Crestview Medical Centre on 28 July 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led services. It was also good for providing services for older people; people with long-term conditions; families, children and young people; working age people; people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable and people experiencing poor mental health.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

• Staff understood and fulfilled their responsibilities to raise concerns, and to report incidents and near misses. Information about safety was recorded, monitored, appropriately reviewed and addressed.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff had received training appropriate to their roles and any further training needs had been identified and planned for.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• Information about services and how to complain was available and easy to understand.
• Some patients said they found it difficult to see their own GP and had to wait some time.
• The practice had good facilities and was well equipped to treat patients and meet their needs.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by the management.
• The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients which it acted on.

However there were areas of practice where the provider needs to make improvements.

Importantly the provider should:

• Ensure that blank prescriptions are secured overnight in accordance with national guidelines.

Ensure the trolley containing emergency medicines is kept in a secure area.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

This practice is rated as Requires Improvement overall. (Previous rating August 2015 – Good)

The key questions at this inspection are rated as:

Are services safe? – Requires Improvement

Are services effective? – Requires Improvement

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? - Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Alexandra Road Surgery on 11 October 2018. We carried out this inspection as part of our inspection programme.

At this inspection we found:

• The practice had systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the practice learned from them and improved their processes.
• We found out of date items on the emergency trolley and in clinical rooms. These were removed immediately.
• The practice routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines.
• There were clear plans in place that were being acted on to improve the Quality Outcomes Framework, where some outcomes were lower than local and national averages.
• Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• The practice hosted a number of groups to support patients including an art therapy group for patients experiencing poor mental health and a social prescribing group.
• Patients found the newly changed appointment system easy to use and reported that access care when they needed it was becoming easier to get.
• There was a focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.
• The practice had hosted a multidisciplinary event in conjunction with the local council, local GP practices, wellbeing, children’s services, housing, counselling organisations and social services. The event was attended by over 400 patients and free health checks were offered on the day. Feedback from patients and the providers that attended was positive, with many services wishing to hold the event again.

We saw areas of outstanding practice:

• The practice had hosted an event for patients on high doses of opiates. This was in response to information from the Clinical Commissioning Group that there was an initiative to reduce opiate prescribing. The practice invited all patients on high dose opiates to the event and gave a presentation about opiates and associated risks. This event was hosted by the practice manager, practice pharmacist, GP and physiotherapist. At the end of the event, several patients volunteered to trial reducing their opiates and after consultation with the GP, pharmacist and physiotherapist began a reduction programme. The event was shared with, and adopted by, many local practices as good practice and utilised as a tool to reduce opiate prescribing.

The areas where the provider must make improvements are:

• Ensure care and treatment is delivered in a safe way to patients.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Continue to review, monitor and improve outcomes for patients, particularly those with diabetes and mental health conditions.
• Continue to drive improvement and uptake for cervical screening.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP
Chief Inspector of General Practice

Please refer to the detailed report and the evidence tables for further information.