Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Brownhill Surgery on 27 July 2016. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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

• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and an effective system in place for reporting and recording significant events.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed.
• Staff assessed patients’ needs and delivered care in line with current evidence based guidance. Staff had been trained to provide them with the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
• 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. Improvements were made to the quality of care as a result of complaints and concerns.
• Patients said they found it easy to make an appointment with a named GP and there was continuity of care, with urgent appointments available the same day.
• 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 management. The practice proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
• The provider was aware of and complied with the requirements of the duty of candour.

We saw three areas of outstanding practice:

One staff member was a trained Carer’s champion who offered face to face and telephone support to patients and the local community, advising them on the available avenues of support.

The patient participation group (PPG – Friends of Brownhill Surgery) held community events to raise awareness of various medical conditions and relevant support organisations, for example; they had organised a dementia awareness event to provide advice about the different types of dementia, the treatments and support available. More recently there was a cancer awareness event and patients can access the presentation slides on the practice web site. These events were held in the Parish hall and were also open to people who were not patients at Brownhill surgery.

There were two nurse prescribers at the practice who helped to free up GP time and improved patient access. The practice submitted evidence to demonstrate for the period 2014-2015 Brownhill Surgery had the lowest non-elective emergency hospital admissions and the lowest accident and emergency attendance for both adults and children within the Blackburn with Darwen CCG area.

The areas where the provider should:

• Ensure the decision made not to hold Benzylpenicillin on site is appropriately risk assessed.

• Ensure audit activity is formally documented to clearly demonstrate improvements in governance arrangements.

Professor Steve Field

(CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice