Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Church Langley Medical Centre on 22 April 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Specifically, we found the practice to be good for providing safe, well-led, effective, caring and responsive services. It was also good for providing services for the older people, people with long-term conditions, families, children and young people, working age people (including those recently retired and students), people living in vulnerable circumstances, and 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.
• Risks to patients were assessed and well managed, with the exception of those staff undertaking chaperone duties.
• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned and delivered following best practice guidance. Staff had received training appropriate to their roles and any further training needs had been identified and planned.
• Patients said they were treated with compassion, dignity and respect and they were involved in their care and decisions about their treatment.
• Patients said they were able to make an appointment with a GP and the nursing team and that 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 was open and receptive to challenge, proactively seeking feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.

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

Importantly the provider should

• Ensure risk assessments are conducted for staff who carry out chaperone duties but have not been subject to a criminal records check to determine why one is not required.
• Improve their record keeping to ensure it is an accurate reflection of all decisions and actions taken.
• Ensure staff receive training appropriate to their role including the health care assistant responsible for use of the spirometer (a device used to monitor lung function) to improve the diagnosis of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). COPD is the name for a collection of lung diseases including chronic bronchitis, emphysema and chronic symptoms.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice