Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at CH Medical on 15 April 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 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 two areas of outstanding practice:

• The practice employed a practice nurse with specialist responsibility for older patients. They had supported them to gain a master’s degree in gerontology. The nurse carried out annual health checks for the over 70s and the continuity of care, therefore identifying changes to health at an early stage. They looked holistically at physical, psychological and social health and had the relevant links in the community to refer patients to other services.They also took the lead on dementia and had excellent links to the memory clinic.

• Most of the patients at a nearby 146 bedded nursing home were registered with the practice. A dedicated GP visited the home for a morning one day each week to provide continuity of care and be available if relatives wanted to speak with them.

The area where the provider should make improvement is:

• Although we saw an example of a two cycle audit the provider should put a system in place so that audits requiring a second cycle are identified and improvements made are monitored.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice