Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Cricklade Surgery on 31 May 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 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.
• The practice GPs delivered medicines to patients’ homes from the main and rural branch site. This service was mainly available for elderly patients who were unable to attend the practice, or could not make alternative arrangements to collect their medicines.
• 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.
• When there were unintended or unexpected safety incidents, patients received reasonable support, truthful information, a verbal and written apology and were told about any actions to improve processes to prevent the same thing happening again.

We found one area where the provider should make improvement:

• The provider should seek support to recruit members to its patient participation group, to better reflect the patient population it serves. We saw that the practice had started to canvass patients to see who would be interested in joining an on-line group. There was a notice in the waiting area and information regarding this in the practice information leaflet.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice