Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this practice on 3 November 2014. A breach of legal requirements was found. After the comprehensive inspection, the practice wrote to us to say what they would do to meet legal requirements in relation to;

Regulation 13 HSCA 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations

2010 Management of medicines

We undertook this focused inspection on 22 January 2016, to check that they had followed their plan and to confirm that they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to those requirements. You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting 'all reports' link for Ampleforth Surgery on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

From the inspection on 3 November 2014, the practice were told they must:

• Improve the checking and signing of prescriptions by GPs before medicines are dispensed and issued to patients.

• Improve arrangements for checking the expiry dates of medicines to ensure they are safe to use.

We found that on the 22 January 2016 the practice now had improved systems in place.

• Prescriptions were signed before being dispensed to patients and there was a robust process in place to ensure this occurred, including for controlled drugs.

• There was a procedure in place to ensure dispensary stock was fit for use and we were shown examples of how this worked.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out a comprehensive inspection of Ampleforth Surgery on 3 November 2014. We inspected the main surgery at Back Lane, Ampleforth and also visited the branch surgery at Hovingham to look at the dispensary.

We rated the practice overall as good.

Our key findings were as follows:

• The practice provided services to a large geographical and rural area, the services had been designed to meet the needs of the local population.

• Feedback from patients was overwhelmingly positive, they told us staff treated them with respect and kindness.

• Staff reported feeling supported and able to voice any concerns or make suggestions for improvement.

We saw several areas of good practice including:

• A patient centred approach to delivering care and treatment. All staff were aware of and sympathetic to, the particular difficulties faced by the local population living in a rural location.

• The practice had developed daily input into a large local boarding school in the area and provided good responsive care.

• The practice actively sought the opinions of staff and patients, working with a well established patient participation group (PPG) to address and improve patient care experience. The practice and PPG had been successful in developing a volunteer car service transporting patients without transport to and from their appointments at the surgery and hospital.

However, there was also an area of practice where the practice needed to make improvements.

The practice must:

• Improve the checking and signing of prescriptions by GPs before medicines are dispensed and

issued to patients. They must also improve arrangements for checking the expiry dates of medicines to ensure they are safe to use.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice