Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Stillington Surgery on 2 September 2015. Overall the practice is rated as good.

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.
• 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.
• Patients said they found it easy 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 two areas of outstanding practice:

• The practice had audited their appointment system and reviewed and changed availability. A third of all appointments were available to be booked each day, a third could be booked the day before and a third were available for review appointments which could be booked in advance. Patients’ satisfaction had improved and this was borne out in the most recent patient survey and all of the comments we received.
• Each new mother had a post natal visit and their baby received a full neo-natal check.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice