This practice is rated as Good overall.

The key questions at this inspection are rated as:

Are services safe?          – Good

Are services effective?    – Good

Are services caring?        – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led?      - Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Cobridge Surgery on 1 October 2018 as part of our inspection programme.

At this inspection we found:

• The practice had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the practice learned from them and improved their processes.
• The practice routinely reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured that care and treatment was delivered according to evidence- based guidelines. However, their prescribing quality systems showed a small number of patients had not been monitored effectively.
• The practice had a proactive approach in helping patients to live healthier lives.
• Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• Patients found the appointment system easy to use but reported that they were not always able to access care when they needed it. The practice was reviewing the telephone access to the practice in response to patients concerns.
• Staff stated they felt respected, supported and valued and there was an open culture within the practice.
• There were clear responsibilities and roles of accountability to support good governance and management.
• There was a focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.

We saw one area of outstanding practice:

• The practice nurse had implemented a proactive plan to increase the uptake of cervical screening within the practice population, particularly amongst patients whose first language was not English and patients with a learning disability. The practice nurse who is a Queen’s Nurse was awarded a highly commended certificate at the Queens Nursing Annual Conference for this work, with this innovative project recently being published on NHS England ‘Leading Change – Adding Value’ website.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Review routine immunisations for all staff that have direct contact with patients, including reception staff, to ensure they are up to date.
• Consider ways of updating reception staff in the identification of a rapidly deteriorating patient and the escalation process to follow.
• Complete a formal risk assessment to record the processes GPs followed regarding assessment of emergency medicines taken on home visits.
• Introduce safety netting processes to support prescribing against all current national prescribing guidance and MHRA alerts.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Please refer to the detailed report and the evidence tables for further information.