Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We inspected this service on 16 October 2014 as part of our new comprehensive inspection programme. We have rated this practice as good.

We found the practice to be good in the safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led domains. The practice provided good care to older people, people with long term conditions, families, children and young people, the working age population and those recently retired, people in vulnerable circumstances and people experiencing poor mental health.

Our key findings were as follows:

• There were systems in place to protect adults and children who used the service from the risks of harm.
• Staff were proactive in promoting good health and encouraging patients to be involved in and responsible for their treatment and wellbeing.
• Patients told us that the staff were compassionate, caring and respectful towards them.
• The practice listened to and acted on suggestions for improvement made by its patients, patient participation group (PPG) and staff.

We saw several areas of outstanding practice including:

• Significant events were discussed with the practices’ patient participation group (PPG) and relevant professionals outside the practice so that all necessary improvements could be made and ideas to prevent re-occurrence shared.

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

In addition the provider should:

• Ensure that all staff are up to date with training related health and safety. This should include fire safety, infection control and equality and diversity.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP

Chief Inspector of General Practice

We visited the surgery to establish that the needs of patients using the service were being met. On the day of the inspection we spoke with 15 patients, six staff members, two GPs, the practice manager and two community health professionals.

The patients we spoke with were all complimentary about the service. One patient said: “The staff here have always been very good. They are always polite and helpful”. All of the patients we spoke with were happy with the appointment process at the surgery. All were confident that they would be able to book an urgent appointment to see a doctor if necessary.

Patients told us that they received care, treatment and support that met their needs. One patient said: “The doctor always takes time to explain, he has printed me off some information today”. There were processes in place to support people with the management of long term conditions, for example diabetes and asthma.

As part of the inspection we spoke with three members of the Patient Participation Group (PPG). PPGs are an effective way for patients and GP surgeries to work together to improve the service and to promote and improve the quality of the care.

There were systems in place to ensure personal data was kept securely.