Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

This practice is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspection April 2015 – Good)

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Good

As part of our inspection process, we also look at the quality of care for specific population groups. The population groups are rated as:

Older People – Good

People with long-term conditions – Good

Families, children and young people – Good

Working age people (including those recently retired and students – Good

People whose circumstances may make them vulnerable – Good

People experiencing poor mental health (including people with dementia) - Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Courtside Surgery on 16 March 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.
• Staff involved and treated patients with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
• Patients found the appointment system easy to use and reported that they were able to access care when they needed it.
• There was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation. Areas identified at the last inspection in 2015 where the practice should make improvements had been addressed.

We saw two areas of outstanding practice:

• The practice had developed IT based systems to improve medicines management and patient care. These included electronic repeat prescribing protocols; and electronic systems to share clinical information with other health care organisations to ensure appropriate end of life patient care.
• The practice carried out proactive screening of patients for alcohol misuse; and had used IT to improve prescription management in relation to substance misuse. Patients had access to an onsite drug and alcohol misuse support worker and a lead GP.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• There was an effective system to manage infection prevention and control, however, arrangements should be reviewed. 

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Courtside Surgery on 21 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 population groups of older patients, patients with long term conditions, families, children and young people, working age people (including those recently retired and students), people whose circumstances may make them vulnerable 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.
• 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 following an appraisal.
• 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.
• We saw patients were able to make an appointment with a named GP 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 proactively sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.

We saw areas of outstanding practice:

• The practices patient participation group were very active in the promotion of health awareness and had been instrumental in organising and delivering a number of health awareness events for patients. These included raising awareness of nutrition, men’s health, dementia, paediatrics and caring for carers.
• The practice is a member of the Prime Ministers challenge fund “One Care” pilot project which aims to use technology to improve access to primary care, manage demand effectively and improve the quality and consistency of care delivered. These services include the use of online platforms to manage appointments, repeat prescriptions and consultations and integrated patient records with read and write access to patient records across the area.
• The executive partner had a lead role in the Clinical Commissioning Group for IT, their interests place the practice at the forefront of IT usage in GP practices. They were one of the first practices in the country to provide electronic signing in for patients and were early adopters for online services. The use of IT had enhanced access to appointments for patients.

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

Importantly the provider should:

• Review how the sharing of updated guidelines used to support consistent patient care can be evidenced.
• Review the reception area to support patient confidentiality.
• Review how the practices vision and business plan is promoted with staff and patients.
• Review governance arrangements to ensure learning from significant events, complaints and audits is clearly documented and disseminated.

Review how the practices whistleblowing policy can be promoted to all staff.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice