Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Dr Shaun Conway also known as Hingham Surgery on 27 October 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. However the practice had not risk assessed access to the dispensary.

• 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 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.
• 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 one area of outstanding practice;

• The practice was proactive in identifying patients with caring responsibilities. A member of the patient participation group (PPG) provided monthly carer support group meetings at the practice to offer support and guidance

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

• The practice should review aspects of the management of the dispensary, including formally risk assess the practice’s decision not to limit access to the dispensary to those who are involved in the dispensing process, recording of checks taken to ensure medicine are within the expiry date and to identify errors that should be raised as significant events.
• There was scope to improve the processes in place to check medicines following alerts and recalls of medicines, to ensure systems were robust and all alerts were logged and acted upon.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice