Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at All Saints Surgery on 25 September 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Specifically, we rated the practice as good for providing safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led services. The service provided to the following population groups was rated as good:

• Older people.

• People with long-term conditions.

• Families, children and young people.

• Working age people (including those recently retired and students).

• People whose circumstances may make them vulnerable.

• People experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia).

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.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance.
• 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.
• There was a clear leadership structure and staff felt supported by management.

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

The provider should :

• Undertake risk assessments when appointing staff with a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check from a previous employer and develop systems to record necessary recruitment checks completed for all staff including locums.

• Review the results of the 2015 national GP patient survey and consider whether improvements are needed to improve patients’ experience of the service.

• Develop systems to monitor and record staff training so that training needs can be easily identified and acted on.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice