Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

This practice was previously inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in March 2016 and rated good with requires improvement for safe. Enforcement action was taken and requirement notices issued with regard to Regulation 12 and 19 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations. The link to this report can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Far Lane Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk. A focused follow up inspection was programmed on 20 February 2017 to review in detail the actions taken by the practice to improve the quality of care and to confirm that the practice was meeting legal requirements. The requirement notices had not been met so we scheduled a comprehensive inspection.

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Far Lane Medical Centre on 26 April 2017. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

• The practice had systems in place to minimise risks to patient safety.
• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and a system in place for reporting and recording significant events. However, there was limited evidence of reported incidents and lessons learned were not communicated widely enough to support improvement.

• Staff were aware of current evidence based guidance. Staff had been trained to provide them with the skills and knowledge to deliver effective care and treatment. There were some shortfalls with regard to chaperone training of staff who worked at the branch site and infection control training.

• Results from the national GP patient survey showed patients 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.
• Patients we spoke with said they found it difficult to access the practice by telephone to make an appointment though access to urgent appointments the same day were available when required.
• 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 sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
• The provider was aware of the requirements of the duty of candour.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

• Ensure staff who perform chaperone duties at the branch site are trained for the role.

• Encourage staff to report significant events and ensure lessons learned are communicated widely enough to support improvement.

• Review the system for monitoring of cleaning schedules.

• Review ways to identify carer’s and add them to the carer’s register to be able to offer them support.

• Consider patient feedback regarding telephone access and implement the action plan for improvement as soon as practicable.

• Monitor the system implemented to improve security and track blank prescription forms.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

This practice was previously inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in March 2016 and rated good with requires improvement for safe. Enforcement action was taken and requirement notices issued with regard to Regulation 12 and 19 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations. The link to this report can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Far Lane Medical Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk. A focused follow up inspection was programmed on 20 February 2017 to review in detail the actions taken by the practice to improve the quality of care and to confirm that the practice was meeting legal requirements. The requirement notices had not been met so we scheduled a comprehensive inspection.

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Far Lane Medical Centre on 26 April 2017. Overall the practice is rated as good.

Our key findings across all the areas we inspected were as follows:

• The practice had systems in place to minimise risks to patient safety.
• There was an open and transparent approach to safety and a system in place for reporting and recording significant events. However, there was limited evidence of reported incidents and lessons learned were not communicated widely enough to support improvement.

• Staff were aware of current evidence based guidance. Staff had been trained to provide them with the skills and knowledge to deliver effective care and treatment. There were some shortfalls with regard to chaperone training of staff who worked at the branch site and infection control training.

• Results from the national GP patient survey showed patients 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.
• Patients we spoke with said they found it difficult to access the practice by telephone to make an appointment though access to urgent appointments the same day were available when required.
• 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 sought feedback from staff and patients, which it acted on.
• The provider was aware of the requirements of the duty of candour.

The areas where the provider should make improvement are:

• Ensure staff who perform chaperone duties at the branch site are trained for the role.

• Encourage staff to report significant events and ensure lessons learned are communicated widely enough to support improvement.

• Review the system for monitoring of cleaning schedules.

• Review ways to identify carer’s and add them to the carer’s register to be able to offer them support.

• Consider patient feedback regarding telephone access and implement the action plan for improvement as soon as practicable.

• Monitor the system implemented to improve security and track blank prescription forms.

Professor Steve Field CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP 

Chief Inspector of General Practice

All of the patients that we spoke with told us that their privacy and dignity was always respected when attending the practice. Comments captured included: “You’re not interrupted [during the consultation] staff knock on the door and wait. I am highly satisfied, I wouldn’t have stayed here if I hadn’t have been. You can talk in private to people [staff] there’s a sign.” We found patients were fully involved in decisions relating to their treatment and care.

We found processes were in place to safeguard patients from the risks of abuse.

We conducted a tour of the premises and found it was clean and tidy. There were systems in place to reduce the risk and spread of infection.

We found staff were adequately supported because they received regular training sessions and an annual appraisal.

We found there were effective systems to regularly assess and monitor the quality of service that patients receive.